The National Department of Health sets national health policy and oversees the public health system, while the nine provincial health departments actually run the hospitals and clinics. That split decides who you should contact: a complaint about treatment at a specific facility belongs to the province, not to this department.
Official contact channels
- National helpline: 0800 012 322
- WhatsApp: 0600 123 456
- General email: [email protected]
- Anti-corruption hotline: 0800 701 701
- Head office switchboard: 012 395 8000
Use the national helpline for health information and the anti-corruption hotline only for fraud, theft or misconduct. Those are different lines run for different purposes, and a clinical complaint sent to the corruption hotline will not reach anyone who can act on it.
The department also publishes fax numbers alongside several of its office telephone numbers. Those are not reproduced here, because a fax number sitting next to a landline in a government contact block is a common source of wasted calls.
Services and responsibilities
- National health policy, legislation and regulation, including health regulations and compliance management
- Programmes covering HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, immunisation and mental health
- Communicable and non-communicable disease programmes, environmental health and food control
- The Uniform Patient Fee Schedule, which sets what public facilities may charge
- National Health Insurance policy work
The Uniform Patient Fee Schedule is worth knowing about if you have been billed by a public hospital. Public sector fees are set nationally against income bands, so a bill that looks arbitrary can be checked against a published schedule.
Office and address information
- Head office: Dr AB Xuma Building, 1112 Voortrekker Road, Pretoria Townlands 351-JR, Pretoria, 0187
- Postal address: Private Bag X828, Pretoria, 0001
- Office of the Minister, Pretoria: 012 395 8086, or [email protected]
- Office of the Minister, Cape Town: 021 466 7260, Private Bag X9070, Cape Town, 8000
- Office of the Deputy Minister: 012 395 9206
- Office of the Director-General: [email protected]
The Minister keeps offices in both Pretoria and Cape Town, which follows the parliamentary calendar. During parliamentary sessions the Cape Town office is the active one, so if a Pretoria line goes unanswered for a stretch, that is often why.
Applications and escalation
- A complaint about care at a specific hospital or clinic goes first to that facility, then to the provincial health department that runs it
- Where a provincial department does not resolve it, the Office of Health Standards Compliance and the Health Ombud investigate complaints about health establishments
- Fraud, theft or misconduct in the public health system: the anti-corruption hotline on 0800 701 701
- Complaints about a doctor, nurse or other practitioner personally go to their professional council rather than to any department
Sending a facility complaint to the national department is the most common misstep. National sets policy and does not manage hospitals, so the complaint gets forwarded to the province anyway, adding weeks. Start provincially and escalate to the Health Ombud if that fails.
Sources
- National Department of Health contact page, health.gov.za, read 3 September 2026