Parliament, Sunday 10 September 2017 – The Select Committee on Social Services has instructed the Provincial Department of Health to provide a detailed report with clear timelines on when they intend resolving various challenges within the healthcare system in the province.
The instruction follows an oversight visit to Addington Hospital and the Cato Manor Community Health Centre. The Committee also held a special meeting with the MEC of Health in the province to ascertain progress in implementing interventions to overcome various challenges with the system.
The general challenges found include the high vacancy rate within the healthcare system, slow Supply Chain Management turn-around time, infrastructure challenges, lack of equipment, low skills base and underfunding of the healthcare system. The Committee has instructed the provincial health department to provide the Committee with a detailed plan, with timelines, on how these challenges will be overcome within the next month.
The Committee was horrified to learn that due to the staff shortage at Addington Hospital the mortality rate within the maternity ward was high mainly because of lack of staff. “While we acknowledge that the ward at Addington deals with primarily high risk pregnancies, it is unacceptable that the quality of services has been compromised due to inadequate staffing,” said Ms Cathy Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Committee.
It is also unacceptable that medical professionals are subjected to inadequate working conditions in hospitals impacting on their ability to deliver quality services. “The lack of proper equipment has led to an exodus of critical skills from the public healthcare service. The doctors remaining are then faced with daunting workload which impact on their morale. This must be remedied with speed,” Ms Dlamini emphasised.
While the Committee acknowledge increasing pressure caused by the ever decreasing funding base within the healthcare system vis-à-vis the ever increasing population, it reiterates its posture that positions within the healthcare sector must be prioritised and filled with the outmost urgency at all times. In line with this, the Committee welcomes the assurance that the department is working on a critical minimum posts that will be urgently filled. This process is to ensure that hospitals have the requisite skills at the minimum numbers to render services.
The Committee also welcomes moves to delegate the authority to appoint critical staff to the hospital which will assist in shortening the recruitment process.
In relations to the oncology crisis, the Committee welcomes the interim public private partnership arrangement with private oncologists, medical officers, radiotherapists and oncology nurses to deal with the oncology backlog. The Committee also welcomes the interventions driven by the National Department of the Health and the guidance and support provided to the KZN province.
The committee further welcomed the fact that besides the two broken Oncology machines at Addington Hospital cancer patients still receive other cancer treatment to other centres in the province.
The Committee was informed that there are 3 oncology centres and a satellite site (North Coast) in the Province that provide both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These are Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH), Grey’s Hospital and Addington Hospital as well as a new site that has been established in the North Coast where chemotherapy provided by the state is administered by private Oncologists from Joint Medical Holdings (JMH). While the Committee welcomes these interim measures, it has called for more permanent measures to be implemented.
In relations to issues of housing, the Committee is horrified by the living conditions of the Zamani Transit camp community, in uMlazi. The community that lives a stone throw away from a waste water treatment plant were promised to be moved to proper housing units following the 2010 soccer world cup and they are still waiting.
It is unacceptable that the people of Zamani live in such abhorrent conditions. The Committee has urged the Department of Human Settlements and the eThekwini Municipality to urgently implement the promises that were made to the people of Zamani.
The Committee was impressed by the Cornubia Integrated Housing Project and reiterated that the quality there must be extended to other sites. Despite this, the Committee was alarmed by allegations that a Councillor was illegally selling property to people not on the list. The Committee has as a result requested a full report on the occupants of the house in relations to the beneficiary lists to be submitted to the Committee.
The Committee will await the requested reports and will continue to monitor implementation of recommendations made by the Committee.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SERVICES, MS CATHY DLAMINI
Media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson please contact:
Name: Mr Malatswa Molepo (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
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E-mail: mmolepo@parliament.gov.za
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