Severe staff shortages, low morale and several long- standing acting senior appointments were some of the findings made by members of the provincial legislature when they visited two of the province’s top hospitals on Tuesday.
Addressing MPLs, the acting chief executive of Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Dr Linda Sobekwa, said with a total staff complement of 906, their vacancy rate was about 10%.
This was up to 40% in the Phoenix hospital’s medical component.
Some of the positions would be filled in December when permanent doctors are appointed in place of part-time doctors who work only a few hours a day.
This was applauded by Scopa chairperson Maggie Govender who led the delegation, describing it as creating permanent jobs and institutional memory at the hospital.
The Department of Health has also approved the filling of 10 critical posts. Applications for the chief executive post, which has been vacant since 2014, were closing next week.
Sobekwa, who has been acting since July last year, said they were also at the final stages of recruiting three doctors, three pharmacists’ assistants and two operations managers.
They had recently appointed four nurses and had readvertised a vacancy for a doctor specialising in internal medicine.
The department has also approved recruitment at Addington Hospital, including nursing services and medical managers, posts filled in acting capacities for almost two years.
Chief executive Dr Mthetheleli Ndlangisa said if all went well, they would make per- manent appointments by October.
“The filling of posts is prioritised according to budget availability,” said Ndlangisa.
With 303 vacant posts, the hospital was plagued by low morale due to heavy workloads, resulting in resignations and increased sick leave.
Performing duties that were not included in their organogram was also straining their already ageing workforce whose capacity was decreased anyway, said Ndlan- gisa.
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital chief executive Dr Thandeka Khanyile told the MPLs that recruitment was now not based on each hospital’s organogram but on functionality requirements.
“What managers have been asked to do is to indicate the numbers of critical staff required to keep the disciplines functioning.
“We don’t want people to say ‘we are resigning because there is a shortage’, we look at the work that is done to determine the number that will make it comfortable for people to work.”
Ndlangisa said some of the positions were still vacant not because there had been no recruitment, but due to the lack of suitable candidates applying for posts.
The failure to get suitably qualified people meant that the hospital operated without an advisory board to establish relations between the public and hospital.
Ndlangisa said some of the applicants received were inexperienced, straight from matric.
Addington had recently appointed 14 nurses and 14 doctors. This included one in the hospital’s troubled radiology department.
Khanyile said one of the two radiotherapy machines at Addington had been fixed, but would not been handed over for patient treatment until quality checks were done.
Cancer patients whose treatment called for chemotherapy were being treated at Addington, said Penny Msimango, acting chief director of eThekwini District.
Last month, Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo met representatives of radiotherapy machine manufacturer Varian, and there was an agreement that it (Varian) would be responsible for keeping the machines operational.
But the delay in the employment of oncologists means cancer patients would for now continue to wait for life- saving treatment.