Pretoria - At least eight fridges at Mahikeng Provincial Hospital's mortuary are broken, while the laundry services leave much to be desired.
The hospital, which is seen as the face of North West’s poor state of the health system, is also struggling to spend its budget and grants for the current financial year.
This sorry state of affairs emerged this week during a visit by Parliament's ad hoc committee on Section 100 intervention in the North West.
Led by its chairperson, ANC MP China Dodovu, the committee visited the province to assess the impact of the intervention on service delivery in general.
The intervention was evoked by the Cabinet in May 2018 following reports of widespread corruption, poor governance and lack of consequence management.
The DA in the province previously told the media that the cases of medical malpractice had “increased from a mere 53 in 2016 to a staggering 500 cases in 2019”. At the height of the protests which forced former premier Supra Mahumapelo to resign in 2018, trade union protests had brought Mahikeng Hospital to its knees, forcing it to discharge bedridden patients.
Section 100 of the Constitution stipulates that national government interventions in a provincial administration may take place when a province cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of the Constitution or legislation.
While the committee commended the department for "marginal gains", it sharply raised concerns about the non-functionality of the eight fridges at the hospital mortuary, which "serve almost a million people in the district".
Dodovu said: “While we welcome the appointment of three mortuary attendants and the extension of operating hours, the committee is concerned by the limited capacity and old infrastructure at the hospital’s mortuary and the reported continuous breakdown of fridges.”
Progress made by the hospital included the hiring of 633 personnel and 23 specialists to fill vacant posts.
Other good news was that the hospital board was functional, and the relationship between the employer and labour was praised.
The committee was, however, concerned by the inability to fill positions of the chief executive officer, which has been vacant since 2015, as well as the finance and maintenance managers.
"All these positions are critical in the effective operation of the hospital, to ensure effective service delivery to the people," the committee said.
The infrastructure challenges, which included the non-functionality of the laundry services, were also a cause for concern, especially that it was previously highlighted by the ad hoc committee.
"Furthermore, the committee is concerned that the hospital continues to struggle to spend its budget and grants, with only 72% spent for the current financial year. The inability of the hospital to spend its budget has a direct impact on small businesses contracted to the hospital, as payments continue to be late," said the committee.
Besides having challenges, the committee welcomed "steady headway in resolving some challenges within the health portfolio".
Committee members also visited Tshepong Hospital as part of the oversight visit, to review the impact of the Cabinet intervention on service delivery.
"Overall, the committee’s assessment was that there is marginal improvement in operations at health facilities, but enormous challenges remain a worry."
Contacted for comment, Vuyisile Ngesi, spokesperson for North West premier Professor Job Mokgoro, referred enquiries to provincial Department of Health spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane "because the questions are health-related".
Lekgethwane conceded that the eight fridges got broken on Monday but insisted that they were fixed on the same day.
He said the department was working on increasing the number of fridges from 48 to about 96 to deal with increased demand for space.
"Laundry services are affected by old equipment. However, once the new boiler is fully operationalised with a full complement of staff then new equipment will be brought in. The boiler operators have been interviewed," he said.
Pretoria News