VRYHEID: Committee on health not impressed with Zululand

Lolo Madonsela

The Portfolio Committee on Health in the KZN Legislature was not impressed with Zululand District during its oversight visit last week.
The committee, chaired by Nomakiki Majola, found that the district was not properly prepared for their presentation; Majola had to ask the district director to leave the meeting with his team so they could prepare and come back with the required information. The meeting was held at Vryheid District Hospital (VDH) and the purpose of the visit was to carry out monitoring; check on the budget processes; and monitor performance (financial and non-financial statements) and expenditure from the Health District, as well as from the hospital.
During the meeting, it emerged that hospitals in Zululand were facing a huge number of vacant posts, where some posts have been vacant for more than three years. Critical posts were not filled; there was a shortage of vehicles; and there was no designated forensic mortuary.
There has been some construction and a few renovations at VDH, which include a nurses’ and isolation ward that is now ready to take up to 12 patients. However, there are other challenges, as the hospital still has asbestos which is yet to be removed and replaced with a proper roofing structure.

Also read: JOC dissatisfied with Vryheid Hospital

The committee was due to visit Ulundi as well, but due to a community riot that was taking place, Ulundi could not be monitored.
Majola said, “We were doing oversight in Zululand, looking at the first quarter performance, but we could see they were not prepared. We need a specific time for all hospitals and clinics to give their reports accordingly. They failed to give us their financial performance, and that is what we are here for. We need to know all the challenges; not just to scrutinize but also offer support and ensure that some of the plans are achieved timeously. Therefore, we had to postpone this meeting. Even though I cannot at this point give an exact date, it will depend on the schedule of the Legislature. They need to show us their plans; what has been done and at what cost.
“They did not give us the answers; that is why we had to reschedule and have an integrated meeting where everyone will do the presentation according to the correct format which answers all the questions they could not answer. We were also looking more at Covid-19 projects, of which they also could not say anything about.”
Majola insisted that they were not on a fault-finding mission. “However, if there are faults, we need to deal with them. This is an oversight.”

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