Health MEC Mbombo speaks of the good, bad and ugly of the Covid-19 financial year

HEALTH MEC Nomafrench Mbombo with Head of Health, Dr Keith Cloete at a previous event. | Phando Jikelo African News Agency (ANA)

HEALTH MEC Nomafrench Mbombo with Head of Health, Dr Keith Cloete at a previous event. | Phando Jikelo African News Agency (ANA)

Published Nov 18, 2021

Share

Cape Town - Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has spoken of the traumatic and stressful year that the department went through as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking during the health standing committee’s discussion of the department’s 2020/21 annual report, Mbombo said: “It is amazing that under the circumstances the department managed to deliver a clean audit.”

Mbombo highlighted her list of what she referred to as the “the good, the bad and the ugly” events that coloured the year from the department’s perspective.

“The bad part refers to the moral injuries caused when we had to decide who could have ventilators and who couldn’t.

“The ugly part was that for the first time we ended up being questioned in bad faith, especially the clinicians. With Covid-19 we had all sorts of people questioning the health practitioners and their interventions based on fake news.

“The good part is about the lessons learnt – for instance, the public and private sector working together to share resources such as hospital beds,” Mbombo said.

Committee chairperson Wendy Kaizer-Philander (DA) commended the department for its third clean audit for the third financial year in a row and for successfully navigating significant changes to the provincial health-care system in order to manage two waves of Covid-19 infections.

Meanwhile, the provincial Department of Health will seriously consider a suggestion to erect a wall of remembrance in recognition of the Western Cape health workers who died in service during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Head of Health Dr Keith Cloete made the commitment in response to a question from committee member Rachel Windvogel (ANC).

Windvogel also wanted to know what steps the department had taken to protect its staff from the very beginning of the pandemic when there was a lot of anxiety about health workers being exposed to the virus.

Dr Cloete said: “As a department we took this extremely seriously. I and all the senior management met with organised labour from the first week of Covid-19. We said we were not there to fight but to have an open conversation about people’s anxieties and how to overcome them.

“I doubt you will find any senior members of organised labour who will tell you that this department didn't do whatever it needed to do to protect its staff. It was never about blame placing from our perspective. When a staff member died, it was painful for all of us,” Dr Cloete said.

[email protected]

Cape Argus