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The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness is the provincial department responsible for public healthcare in the Western Cape, running hospitals, clinics and emergency medical services across the province. The department’s vision is to give people of the Western Cape access to person-centred quality care.
- Registered name
- Western Cape Government: Department of Health and Wellness
- Type
- Provincial government department (Western Cape)
- Fields funded
- Medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and emergency medical care
- Website
- westerncape.gov.za
- Phone
- 021 483 6610
Services from birth to old age
The department’s services include child health, emergency medical services, family planning, forensic pathology, women’s and men’s health, TB and HIV/AIDS services, psychiatric services and home-based care. It aims to provide equitable access to quality health services within a balanced, well-managed health system, working with partners such as non-profit organisations, which it invites to deliver integrated community-based health and wellness services.
The department also takes part in Close the Gap, a national initiative led by the National Department of Health with the World Health Organization and UNAIDS.
Part of the Western Cape Government
The department is one of the Western Cape Government’s departments, which together worked with a budget of R89.316 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year under Premier Alan Winde. Health is one of the largest parts of any provincial budget, because provinces run most public hospitals and clinics. The Western Cape Government’s values are caring, competence, integrity, accountability, innovation and responsiveness.
The health sciences bursary
The department funds a bursary to train the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and emergency care practitioners its facilities need. For 2027 it funds medicine (MBChB), nursing programmes including the Bachelor of Nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, the National Diploma in Emergency Medical Care and the Higher Certificate for Emergency Care Assistants. The bursary pays registration, tuition and examination fees directly to the institution, but not accommodation.
Applicants must be unemployed South African citizens living in the Western Cape, with no criminal record. Bursars sign a contract to work for the department for as many years as they were funded, with community service counting as the first year, and must repay the full amount if they leave early or fail to qualify. Applications for 2027 close on 30 September 2026, with outcomes expected in January and February 2027.
How to research the department
Read the department’s news to understand pressures such as staff shortages and rising patient numbers, and think carefully about the work-back before signing. Use the online platform’s help pages if you get stuck.
See our nursing bursaries list for other provinces.
