Doctors at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town staged a walk out on Friday, before returning to work, the Western Cape Department of Health said.

About 100 doctors, mostly interns, stopped work and walked into the hospital's courtyard at 2.30pm, said provincial health spokesperson Faiza Steyn.

After the walk out, doctors slowly began to return to work over the next hour.

"There wasn't an emergency, we do have a contingency plan," said Steyn.

She was adamant that the walkout did not disrupt the hospital's ability to respond to an emergency.

Steyn said the province's contingency plans included the use of private doctors as well as doctors from the SA National Defence Force.