Gauteng Department of Health is failing to provide quality medical care to the residents of Gauteng

Madam Speaker,

When you read the Annual Report of the Department of Health, you will find yourself drowning in a deluge of statistics. The frustrating aspect of this is that from these statistics, one does not get a clear sense of the quality of medical care dispensed to the citizens of Gauteng. It was this frustration that motivated me to ask the former MEC for Health in a Portfolio Committee meeting as to how he could be satisfied with the quality of care provided by the department that he then led. His response, which was rather cynical, was that at least, people are not dying on the streets.

This is something that I have thought about quite a lot since then. Despite a cover up and whitewash of the true state of the Health Department by this administration, surely those individuals responsible for oversight, both politicians and officials, know the true state of affairs. Do you. Mr Premier, ever wonder how far we are from a situation where people die on the streets? Or will you once again claim, as you did in the case of Life Esidimeni, that you did not know?

Besides the actual quality of medical care, there are continuous complaints about the contemptuous and arrogant treatment of patients at our public health facilities. The attitude of the staff was something the former MEC took seriously, and I appeal to the newly appointed MEC to put a mechanism in place to test this issue on an ongoing basis and to take steps to ensure that sick people are treated with dignity.

I am disappointed to say that when it comes to health infrastructure, the department is hit by a double whammy. Not only is the health infrastructure budget put under pressure by a dysfunctional Infrastructure Development Department (DID) that struggles to complete projects within time and budget, but in addition, the infrastructure officials in the Health Department do not hold the DID to account. Whether this comes about as a result of honour amongst comrades or it is a ‘couldn’t care about the public purse because it is not my personal money’ attitude, is unclear. Either way, it must be remedied.

The Department of Health is a large enterprise, and its scope of management control is such that it cannot be managed from the centre i.e., from head office. One is therefore reliant on the management at each of the facilities to provide oversight over their own service and resolve the day-to-day problems that arise. That is unfortunately not the case. 

Oversight visits to the health facilities highlight the myriad problems which beset hospitals and clinics. As a committee, we often wonder why the staff on site do not identify these issues and resolve them. Is it a question of people at the coalface abdicating their responsibility of oversight because of attitude or expertise deficiencies, or is organisational culture such that by highlighting the problems, people will feel judged by their superiors? 

Officials must be held to account and consequence management must be applied. It is unconscionable that we continue to expose our citizens to a third-rate service delivery, especially where lives are at risk.

Mr Premier, we are sick and tired of listening to the propaganda about turnaround strategies. The time has come to fix the rot.