MEC visits local hospitals

KABOKWENI – Health and social development MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini had a busy festive season as she spent the holidays in and out of hospitals.

Mpumalanga News has since reliably learnt that her visit to some of the province’s public health-care institutions were prompted by reports of lack of medical attention and supplies.

Mashego-Dlamini, however, told this paper that her visit was part of her routine inspection to check whether these public health-care institutions were operational and running smoothly without any glitches.

She wasn’t shy to admit that the public health-care system still faced a few hiccups here and there, especially the lack of doctors.

“I gave myself some time during this season, especially on Christmas to visit hospitals since you know that when our people are in a celebratory mood they tend to fight and end up wounded. And you find that hospitals are packed with patients in need of medical care.

So, my visit was to check and ensure that doctors and nurses are working and our communities are getting the necessary attention and medical care they deserve,” Mashego-Dlamini told this paper.

“What made me happy during my visit was that all the doctors and nurses were hard at work attending serious cases.”

“We don’t have enough medical staff in our public-health institutions and that is the biggest challenge for us.

And another issue in some hospitals, is that during such holidays there aren’t enough staff to improve service in our communities as clinics are full of injured people.

“As a department we sometimes don’t have enough money to pay for overtime and there are allegations of health-care workers claiming for overtime allowances but having not done any work.

“We are, however, currently trying to sort out the overtime issue because we have had cases where our health-care workers would file for false overtime. I was happy during the festive season to have found dedicated doctors and nurses working,” she said.