Public health in staff crisis, with Gauteng taking the brunt

As President Cyril Ramaphosa officially opens the two-day Presidential Health Summit in Boksburg in Gauteng today, the national department of health is conceding that the massive, countrywide staff shortage constitutes a crisis.

Commenting on the work overload on staff at Tembisa Hospital, which has an alarming 441 vacancies, department spokesperson Popo Maja said Tembisa was a microcosm of the state of the public health sector throughout South Africa, with Gauteng taking most of the strain.

There are 1 853 posts at the hospital and only 1 412 are currently filled.

The hospital should have 310 doctors, but there are only 283. Instead of 1 400 nurses, there are 1 013. Four psychologists are available instead of six, there are 10 occupational therapists instead of 15, 25 radiographers instead of 35 and 12 physiotherapists instead of 16.

The biggest shortages are nursing staff, with 387 vacant posts, and doctors with 27 posts unfilled.

Both these categories of health professionals were the backbone of hospitals that prevented the system from collapsing, according to member of parliament and Democratic Alliance deputy chief whip Michael Waters.

He added: “This appalling situation cannot continue as not only is the quality of healthcare compromised, but the staff have heavier workloads.

“This may be a short-term solution, but it will lead to more staff being booked off for stress and exhaustion.

“I will be asking questions in parliament with regard to the filling of all the vacant posts as residents cannot be subjected to compromised standards of healthcare.”

Maja said the slashing of the national health budget in the 2018/2019 to 2020/2021 medium-term expenditure framework by R9 billion was at the core of the national public health crisis.

“It is a decision that the government and the country need to revisit.

“The time has come for the country to realise that health is an investment and not a liability.

“Contributing to a healthy population means contributing to a productive economy.

“The staff shortage is not unique to Tembisa, it’s countrywide. The Gauteng public health sector, which is bigger than that on the whole continent, today feels the pressure more than any other province.

“There are more health needs than our human resources can deal with.”

He said that the more than four million people who live on antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs place an additional strain on understaffed public health facilities.

“The introduction of the HIV treatment, which is available to the public, is a big programme which cannot be matched with the current available human resources.

“Nurses and doctors are overworked because there is a disparity between the increasing number of patients and the decreasing number of staff expected to render the necessary services.”

With many foreign nationals, especially from Africa, having settled in South Africa, pressure was mounting on the country’s free public healthcare system.

“Our public clinics and hospitals offer free healthcare to all, which puts them and the staff under immense pressure,” Maja said.

– brians@citizen.co.za
– Additional reporting by Kempton Express

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