Forty-seven KwaZulu-Natal health department officials have either been fired, have resigned or will appear in court on charges of corruption, the province's MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo said on Thursday.
“What is very striking is that these officials are alleged to have siphoned millions of public funds that could have been best utilised to train more nurses or recruit more pharmacists,” Dhlomo said in his service delivery report to the provincial legislature.
On the poor condition of KwaZulu-Natal hospitals, he said their CEOs needed to meet expectations for progress to be seen.
“We do not require hospital CEOs to know the Pythagoras theorem. We are not asking for extraordinary things. All we ask for is for reduced waiting times, cleaner hospitals, easily available medicine and efficient security for hospital staff.”
In response to Tuesday's murder of Dr Senzosenkosi Mkhize at Middelburg Hospital in Mpumalanga, allegedly by a patient, Dhlomo said KwaZulu-Natal's doctors were equally at risk.
In May a member of the emergency medical rescue service was killed when he responded to a distress call in Escourt.
“A young man had stabbed his parents and the other members of the family called an ambulance. When they arrived and were trying to help the stabbed mother, the assailant stabbed our member of staff to death.” -
Sapa