The spokesperson for the department, Neil Shikwambana, said they were exploring other avenues that the health professionals could be absorbed into the system.

JOHANNESBURG - Over 150 community service doctors and other health professionals in Limpopo will be without a job come the end of December.

The provincial Health Department said it would not be renewing its 12-month contracts due to financial constraints. It's understood hundreds of nurses and other affiliated workers are also affected.

The spokesperson for the department, Neil Shikwambana, said they were exploring other avenues that the health professionals could be absorbed into the system.

"For instance, there are issues of overtime [and] freeing money from professional doctors, to say 'do you still have to have a doctor coming from private practice to come and do this just to cover a gap or can you release that money and employ an additional doctor into that space,'" he said.