Durban - Just days after the Inkatha Freedom Party made an unannounced visit to the Addington Hospital, a delegation from the Democratic Alliance was barred from entering the medical facility on Thursday.
DA MPL Rishigen Viranna said that despite following procedure and requesting permission to assess the facility's ongoing lift crisis, the KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu did not authorise the visit.
"After being denied access, I contacted the office of the HOD, Sandile Tshabalala. I was informed that it was in fact the MEC who did not authorise the oversight."
Viranna said no reasons were given and at this stage the DA still has no formal notification for being barred entry.
"Of particular concern to the DA is that the Department of Health has already spent millions of rands repairing the lifts during the past few years. Yet they remain dysfunctional, affecting the health and well-being of patients, staff and visitors to the hospital some of whom are forced to climb as many as 14 storeys"
He added claimed that almost R26 million was allocated to upgrade/replace the lifts.
"These upgrades/replacements should have rectified this recurring issue yet they seem to have been completely ineffective,"
He said the DA would be notifying the Chairperson of the Health portfolio committee about today’s oversight being blocked and will demand that the matter be placed on the agenda for the next committee meeting. In addition, we will call for a portfolio committee oversight of Addington.
"It cannot be that millions of rands of taxpayers’ money is spent on a facility which remains dysfunctional while elected officials cannot see how the money is being spent," concluded Viranna.
Simelane-Zulu lambasted both the IFP and DA, stating that she will not allow her name to be dragged into competition between the squabbling for cheap publicity between the two parties.
"I have been actively championing infrastructural improvements at the hospital. For both parties to attempt to grandstand over known issues that are receiving attention, speaks of their desperation to outshine each other. Hospitals are extremely sensitive spaces where patients' rights to privacy and dignity are paramount and should be protected from intrusion by opportunists with narrow and self-serving interests," she said.
She says as parties represented in the Provincial Legislature, both the DA and IFP ought to be well aware of the processes that need to be followed when seeking to visit healthcare facilities.
Oversight visits by members of provincial legislature are facilitated by the portfolio committee through the chairperson of that committee.
Members are also aware that requests for oversight visits are not tantamount to approval.
Currently, two lifts are functional at the hospital. The sluice machine in the laundry, which broke down in December, is receiving attention. A contractor has been appointed to conduct repairs to the machine, and is currently awaiting the arrival of replacement parts.
In the meantime, a contingency plan is in place, which entails sending some of the laundry to Cato Manor Hospital.
It must be noted that Addington Hospital has serious infrastructural challenges due to its age, as well as location directly along the coast.
Additionally, this previously whites-only hospital, caters to a large community of people from the Durban CDB; neighbouring communities; and people referred from other lower-level healthcare facilities.In order for the Department to adequately and speedily address the hospital’s infrastructural challenges, it would have to close down.
However, since that is not a viable option, due to the critical service that the hospital renders, it is forced to operate below capacity.
The department remains committed to addressing the immediate challenges at the hospital, and is currently considering a number of options regarding its future, not least of which is its possible relocation, so that it can be re-modelled into a fully-functional, fit-for-purpose healthcare facility.
According to the department, there are two lifts for passengers and patients; two service lifts for the transportation of waste; and another one for food. All in all, five lifts are working.