The state of public hospitals is in shambles. Bogus health practitioners, illegal sale of medicine, lack of food, looting, safety concerns and overworked staff are some of the issues the public health sector in South Africa is faced with daily. The sector which services about 80 percent of the population has in recent times been in a seemingly dilapidated state.
BURNING FACILITIES
Earlier last year, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital made headlines after a part of the hospital caught fire. The root cause of the fire is still under investigation and the closure of the unit has had an impact on patients and nearby hospitals. Charlotte Maxeke joins a number of other hospitals where fires broke out in the last decade. A fire broke out at Carletonville Hospital, there was another incident at Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto, and Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg. The reconstruction or delay ,thereof, has put a strain on nearby hospitals more especially.Almost a year after the fire broke out, health minister doctor Joe Phaahla visited Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to assess the progress made on the accident and emergency unit. Once refurbishments are complete, the Accident and Emergency Unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital will relieve pressure on surrounding facilities including Helen Joseph Hospital, Hillbrow Community Healthcare Centre and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.Another hospital that had to evacuate patients because of a fire was in the North West. Christiana Hospital patients had to be moved to nearby hospitals and fortunately there were no reported injuries or deaths.
NURSES ARE NOT SAFE
The safety of staff in hospitals has also grabbed headlines when a young nurse at a Tembisa hospital, east of Joburg was shot and killed by her police boyfriend while she was on duty. This left her colleagues traumatised. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) condemned the fatal shooting citing that the shooter abused his privilege and betrayed the trust of the community. to commit a gruesome act. "This incident has highlighted the need to reconsider allowing officers of the law to enter facilities with guns and the need to have gun storage in healthcare facilities by security, unless they are escorting a dangerous patient or a convict,' said the organisation in a statement.
SHORTAGE OF STAFF
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) predicted a shortage of 13 million nurses globally. Locally the shortage is evident by the overworking of staff in many clinics and hospitals as nurses make the bulk of the workforce. The ICN calls on countries to come up with strategies to retain staff as a way to protect themselves from the imminent migration tsunami due to increasing global demand for nurses. "DENOSA is warning the South African government that, if it fails once again to protect the loss of access to nursing expertise by its citizens by investing in nursing, it may take far longer to recover from this blunder as each country would make every means possible to hold onto their nursing workforce, many of whom would be nurses from South Africa,' the organisation said in a statement.
PATIENTS ARE HUNGRY
Despite media reports that patients didn't have food and hospital staff had to dig deep in their pockets to feed them, the Gauteng Health department has vehemently denied any of that to be true. The department said only one item of food wasn't available due to supply issues and promised that the issue has been sorted out. "We wish to assure families of patients and the public that Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has not run out of food. All other types offood are served, there was only a short supply of bread which has thus far been resolved and the bread supply capacity improved,' tweeted the department early this year. Zimoja tried to get comment from the National Department of Health but the department didn't respond to questions sent to it nor acknowledge any receipt.
