MBOMBELA – The provincial Department of Health has been placed under curatorship in an attempt to save a system “which was nearing total collapse”.
The decision was made during the provincial government’s three-day executive council lekgotla which ended in Skukuza on Saturday. “It expressed dissatisfaction and concern over the health system in Mpumalanga that, besides providing the requisite support and changing both the political and administrative leadership, the situation was worse as it was nearing a total collapse,” Mr Zibonele Mncwango, the premier Mr David Mabuza’s spokesman, said.
Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini replaced Dr Clifford Mkasi as MEC for health in February last year after Mabuza was dissatisfied with his performance. Mr Gillion Mashego was appointed new MEC earlier this month. It is not clear whether the premier is planning a reshuffling of the department’s leadership yet again.
“The lekgotla has since declared a state of emergency, thereby placing the department under curatorship with immediate effect. The curator has been instructed to urgently prioritise the provision of food, linen and ensure waste management in all the provincial hospitals,” Mncwango added.
Mabuza was expected to meet with the CEOs of all provincial hospitals this week to deal with “intolerable mismanagement and other challenges perceived to be threatening the lives of patients”.
About two weeks ago, Lowwvelder was informed that staff members were attempting to remove Rob Ferreira Hospital’s CEO from office. When the newspaper arrived at the scene, it found National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members toyi-toyiing. Although none of them would address the media about their grievances, a source said that they had demanded new uniforms, which apparently couldn’t be obtained because of cost curtailments.
The newspaper has also been reporting about the huge backlog in the delivery of orthopaedic surgery at the hospital, since it had only one such surgeon available. This surgeon has subsequently resigned.
Neither the premier’s office nor the Department of Health responded to questions at the time of going to press.
