Mkhwebane and her deputy say Gauteng hospitals lack capacity to handle Covid-19 pandemic

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published Aug 20, 2020

Share

By Gift Tlou, Sakhile Ndlazi and Boitumelo Metsing

Johannesburg - Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who is currently visiting Gauteng hospitals, has lashed out at the government for dragging its feet in preparing facilities to fight Covid-19.

Mkhwebane had blasted the state for not meeting its target of providing 3056 beds to cater for Covid-19 patients.

In May, the Gauteng Provincial Command Council decided to build special Covid-19 wards within existing hospitals and clinics to accommodate the growing number of positive cases across the province.

The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) along with the health portfolio were at the forefront of these projects.

In May DID committed its intentions of providing a total of 3056 beds. It has only managed to provide 1126 beds from external entities so far.

Mkhwebane warned that the dragging on of these projects might be linked to wasteful expenditure as Covid-19 restrictions decrease.

“What we found at our facilities is that some of the construction is taking so long. We thought that with the lockdown, things would be ready by now. You will find that after Covid19 some of this infrastructure would not be utilised and that is a problem because it will have an element of wasteful expenditure.”

Mkhwebane’s deputy, Kholeka Gcaleka, did a walkabout and met staff and management at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital on Wednesday.

During her walkabout at Baragwanath, Gcaleka said the hospital did not have sufficient capacity to handle the pandemic.

“The hospital doesn’t have enough capacity, I think the staff are doing the best they can given the circumstances but they definitely need to improve. Should there be a second surge of the pandemic, they will be challenged.”

Baragwanath, the largest hospital in the country, with more than 6 500 employees, is said to be struggling with short-staffing and overcrowding.

Gcaleka also identified procurement issues.

“Our observation is that there is a shortage of staff which results in the staff working under constraints, which they have reported themselves. There is also a challenge with laundry, it’s reported that the laundry is being serviced by the Department of Health and DID which causes some gaps in terms of the delivery. As a result there would be a shortage of linen,” said Gcaleka

Baragwanath’s acting chief executive, Steve Mankupane, said: “We have learnt a lot from the walkabout and we picked up areas where there is criticism and we have plans to work on that.

“We take all criticism and I promise the deputy public protector that I will improve the issues that we picked up.”

Gcaleka said all hospitals visited would be flagged with the health ombuds, health standards, and minister of health together with provincial leadership.

On Tuesday, Mkhwebane visited the Jubilee, Dr George Mukhari and Steve Biko academic hospitals in Tshwane.

She said was satisfied with their preparedness for Covid-19 patients.

However, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA said it did not appreciate Mkhwebane’s sentiments and added that working conditions in hospitals such as Dr George Mukhari were bad.

The DA’s Alan Fuchs lambasted the public protector’s office for not taking swift action against responsible departments, despite finding shortcomings

“The Public Service Commission (PSC) is a constitutional body and is mandated to promote constitutional values and principles as well as values of good corporate governance throughout the public service.

Some of the matters raised in the report included overcrowding in casualty, too few hospital beds resulting in overcrowding, shortages of both clinical and non-clinical staff.

“The PSC referred to the abysmal support from Gauteng’s Infrastructure Development Department in dealing with crumbling infrastructure and lack of maintenance,” said Fuchs.

The Star

Related Topics:

Covid-19