The Treatment Action Campaign, a group working for access to quality public healthcare in South Africa, has called on national leaders to “thoroughly review” the country's healthcare system.

It wants the challenges of the health in South Africa identified and to ensure solutions are present in party manifestos.

A representative explained at a meeting on Friday last week said: “The reality is that in 2018, the South African public healthcare system continues to be in crisis.

“It is poor people who bear the brunt of this dysfunction.”

The group added: “We urge all politicians to focus on the real work of delivering services to our people.”

Elections in South African are planned for next year when president Jacob Zuma steps down.

The TAC said: “The 2019 election is predicted to be a watershed moment in our country’s history and we, as TAC, are ready to hold our political leaders accountable.”

The group is independent from political parties but has direct engagement with parties in all provinces as well as the national parliament to hold them to account, it said.

The World Health Organisation has estimated 19,000 cases of drug resistant tuberculosis, up from 7,350 in 2007, in South Africa. 

Although the ruling party has yet to decide when Zuma should leave, it has intensified pressure on the president to step down to allow his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, to attempt to stamp out corruption and restore confidence in the economy, Bloomberg reported.

The South African government said last week it would offer free university education to students from poorer backgrounds.