The Free State Health Department has lost almost a quarter of its doctors in the last year. Newly released Free State health indicators show all is not well in the troubled province as the province lost an unprecedented 177 medical doctors in the last year. The number of doctors working in public health in the Free State has plunged from 716 in 2014 to just 539 this year. The province has also lost 28 medical specialists over the past year. This is according to the Personal and Salary Administration System (Persal), Treasury’s central system that pays public sector workers, quoted in the Health Systems Trust’s annual SA Health Review (SAHR) released last night.