Eastern Cape health MEC Ntandokazi Capa has been asked to submit a report about the status of Grey Hospital to the provincial health portfolio committee detailing the funding shortfalls and uncertainty around the hospital’s operations.
DA MPL Jane Cowley has written to both Capa and national health minister Aaron Motsoaledi asking for more oversight and due diligence to be done to ensure the hospital operates optimally.
Earlier, standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chair Songezo Zibi made an oversight visit to Grey Hospital, discovering it was badly short-staffed, poorly maintained and operating without an occupational health certificate, which Zibi warned could lead to its closure.
In her letter, Cowley asked the MEC to provide answers on what was happening at the hospital, and that she provide an account of hospital development.
Cowley said she felt the need to pen the letters because the hospital was suffering from “departmental mismanagement”.
“This development underscores chronic departmental mismanagement, marked by infrastructure decay, staffing shortages, and failure to maintain essential services.
“I wrote to Capa and Motsoaledi because Grey Hospital in Qonce has just about collapsed, is offering poor services, is understaffed, has no medications, and operations have almost come to a grinding halt,” she said.
“This is a district hospital and for the last several years, the department has been talking about its plans to decentralise services to the district hospitals to take pressure off the tertiary hospitals.
“What we see here is exactly the opposite.”
Cowley said her letter to the MEC was to find out what her plans were to keep the hospital operational, including funding challenges her department faced.
“What were her plans to put the hospital back on track?”
It was earlier reported that the hospital was poorly maintained, short-staffed (caused in part by the hospital using an organogram from 2007), there was no occupational health certificate, staff members were being shuffled around to fill vacancies they were not trained for, and emergency patients were suffering because non-emergency patients were flooding the hospital.
This last issue was aggravated by the hospital not having a community health centre nearby.
Capa’s spokesperson, Camagwini Mavovana, said the MEC would first await questions “from the proper channels and instructions from the provincial legislature” before answering.
“It is important to caution against alarmist interpretations outside these processes, particularly where patient care and public confidence are concerned,” Mavovana said.
The health department was aware of the situation and had sent a management and clinical support team to Grey.
Mavovana said the hospital’s service delivery was stable.
“The Eastern Cape department of health has deployed a management and clinical support team to Grey Hospital, and there is stability in service delivery at the facility.
“Grey Hospital remains operational, with doctors on site and clinical services continuing.
“Medical practitioners are stationed at the hospital, and the department has ongoing processes to strengthen staffing levels through advertised clinical and non-clinical posts, as well as broader provincial and national interventions to bolster capacity across the system.
“The MEC will engage fully on the matter through the appropriate legislative channels once all formal processes have been concluded.”
The provincial legislature’s health portfolio committee chair, Koliswa Vimbayo, did not respond to questions by the time of publication.
Daily Dispatch
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