MPs' unannounced visit to hospital 'unethical'

File photo: Jeffrey Abrahams

File photo: Jeffrey Abrahams

Published Apr 23, 2018

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Parliament's select committee on petitions and executive undertakings has come under fire from the SA Medical Association (Sama) for conducting an unannounced visit to the Khayelitsha District Hospital.

The association has expressed deep concern following the committee’s meeting, saying it was “unacceptable, unethical and undemocratic”.

The committee’s visit almost two weeks ago revealed staff shortages caused by firing of senior staff members, and patients slumped in chairs almost 24 hours after being admitted.

On the committee’s walkabout during the visit, it said it witnessed a number of patients lying on the floor and a large number of patients slumped in chairs, having been there since noon the previous day. 

The committee said the hospital was facing a severe shortage of beds.

The death of Khayelitsha resident Tamara Fuzane, after allegedly being assaulted by staff at the hospital three years ago, prompted the committee’s unannounced visit at the facility.

The committee was yet to table its report in relation to Fuzane’s complaint.

Dumisani Ximbi had said that the hospital was “failing the people of Khayelitsha”.

Sama hit back by saying the visit “turned into a brutal attack on the dignity of staff and patients”.

“This is totally unacceptable. Patients have the right to confidentiality and privacy; this right was violated by the committee. 

"Similarly, the rights of healthcare workers were also violated when they were subjected to gross harassment by committee members,” said Sama chairperson Dr Mzukisi Grootboom.

He said such visits “must follow process and procedure with due regard to the facility, its staff and patients”.

“What ensued was wholly unacceptable, unethical and undemocratic,” he said.

Grootboom said Sama would seek urgent clarification from the office of the Speaker of Parliament on what steps would be taken “to ensure this never happens again”.

Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said: “What we do not agree with is the manner in which the oversight visit to Khayelitsha Hospital was conducted. 

"The mandate for this visit evidently was not clear, and was seen as a disruption in service."

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