State needs to act urgently to save Gauteng health

It is ironic that the Presidential Health Summit, opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa in Boksburg yesterday, was convened in a province where government health services are collapsing at an alarming rate.

While it is true that the country’s health system is also in a crisis, Gauteng – the most populous province – is the worst affected.

At just one hospital, in Tembisa, there is a shortage of 443 medical professionals. There should be 310 doctors on staff, but there are only 283. There are 387 vacant nurses’ posts at the hospital, said national health spokesperson Popo Maja.

It goes without saying that staff shortages in an already pressurised and overworked government medical sector will directly threaten the health of patients. This is because either patients won’t be attended to timeously or because they may be the victims of medical malpractice by doctors or nurses battling long hours and huge patient loads.

Maja said the current tight fiscal situation meant that, countrywide, health budgets had been cut by R9 billion, meaning there simply is not money available to fill the vacant staff posts.

However, just as critical is the fact that Gauteng’s hospitals are having to deal with a huge influx of “extra” patients – those coming here from elsewhere in the country and from outside SA’s borders.

The internal migration is a terrible indictment of failing services in other provinces. But, there is also the elephant in the room, discussion of which quickly deteriorates into accusations of xenophobia: a significant number of those wanting treatment at SA’s hospitals are undocumented or illegal foreigners.

The situation will only get worse unless the government improves services and work opportunities in other provinces – and unless it stops the uncontrolled immigration into this country of people who are genuine refugees, as opposed to economic migrants.

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