Life Healthcare

About Life Healthcare

Life Healthcare is a private hospital group that operates in South Africa and Botswana. It was formerly known as Afrox Healthcare. Its website lists 42 acute hospitals across the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West, the Western Cape and Botswana.

The group's scale is large. It reports 8 085 registered beds, 278 surgical theatres, 39 emergency units and 35 maternity units. It also runs specialist businesses in rehabilitation, mental health, renal dialysis and oncology, along with diagnostic services such as imaging and catheterisation laboratories.

Other divisions work outside private hospitals. Life Health Solutions supports workplace clinics, and Life Nkanyisa runs a further seven facilities. Together, these businesses create steady demand for nurses and other clinical staff in many parts of the country, which helps to explain why the group invests in nursing education.

How Life Healthcare supports students

The group supports future nurses in two main ways. First, it runs seven learning centres for nursing education, in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Listings describe a Nursing Training Programme for Matric holders, with a closing date reported as 31 July 2026, although sources disagree on that date.

Second, it has offered a bursary for students already registered for a Bachelor of Nursing degree. The last call we could trace paid the funding directly to the student's university, and it closed on 28 February 2024. It suited students with no other funding, including NSFAS.

The two routes differ, so choose the one that fits you. The training programme runs through the group's own learning centres, while the bursary helps you finish a university degree. See our Life Healthcare Bursary page for the terms of that call.

What to know before applying

Start by confirming that a call is open, because we found no bursary advert after 2024. The terms we read came from a third-party copy of the advert, so a new round may differ. Check the Life Healthcare website, or ask a learning centre about the nursing programme.

Next, check your existing funding. The 2024 bursary excluded anyone already funded by NSFAS or another funder, and anyone bound by a work-back agreement. The advert did not describe a work-back period of its own, so ask about this before you accept an award.

Keep your university statement of account and proof of registration ready, since the 2024 call asked for both. The group's general line is 011 219 9000. Be careful of anyone who offers a paid shortcut into nursing training, because recruitment scams often target school leavers.