Raeesa Kimmie & Vella Nyoni
POLOKWANE – “There are many instances whereby there is a shortage of doctors, but the hospital management usually finds someone,” she said. These are the words of a nurse at a local healthcare facility who agreed to speak to Bonus on condition of anonymity. She explained, as public healthcare professionals, their main objective is to make sure they render quality services to their patients and they want to uphold that no matter the circumstances. She also said the problem of not having enough staff is not a unique one and they have been dealing with it for a long time. “When we are understaffed it places so much pressure on us as employees. There are a few of my colleagues who have to work double shifts, they never get a chance to rest.”
This follows concerns about the lack of human resources as was noticed at the Seshego Hospital and clinic during an oversight visit to the Seshego Clinic by the Democratic Alliance on 10 January.
The DA visited the clinic after several complaints were received by councillor Tiny Chidi, these complaints included the clinic’s 24-hour service which was closed on 6 January after staff decided they were left with no choice but to stop the clinic from operating 24-hours a day due to unfulfilled promises made by the Department of Health.
It was found that there were only two nurses at the clinic, none with midwifery expertise.
There are 10 clinical nurses who are divided between day and night shifts and of which only one can perform the termination of pregnancies. Between the five nurses working on either shift, they need to do everything from deliveries to antenatal, which on average are not less than 10 per day. In between these functions they also have to deal with other emergencies.
However, these are just some of the service delivery failures the DA observed.
DA Limpopo Spokesperson, Langa Bodlani, said: “This is an extremely concerning development, especially for the approximately 25 000 people from the surrounding Moletjie and Mashashane villages who also use this clinic in addition to the Seshego residents. There are no cleaners and clerks during the night shifts as they finish work at 16:30. This leaves the nurses who tend to patients to also do other chores such as cleaning and filing”.
Bodlani added the infrastructure at the clinic was equally appalling.
“The maternity room is also used as the emergency room so it is not unusual to give birth in the same room as a patient being treated for stab wounds.
There are only three post-natal beds and the situation is unbearable when there are more than three births. Furthermore, there is no ambulance on site and no back-up generator,” he added.
“Clearly this situation is untenable, especially for the nurses who have to work under these conditions.”
Department of Health Spokesperson, Derick Kganyago, said the department is aware of the situation at the clinic but said it was not a crisis. “According to our research we have sufficient staff, so we are not necessarily understaffed. What we can confirm is the fact that there were doctors, who after they completed their community services, decided to part ways with the department. We are dealing with these matters internally,” Kganyago said. “We have already received applications from doctors who are interested in working with us. We will also communicate with hospitals and clinics in the Capricorn district to see if they can assist us.” The department urged residents from rural areas to make use of the local clinics as they are more than capable of providing quality services.
