774 vacant posts at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital

Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital is inundated with patients but has 774 vacant posts, which includes a shortage of 357 nurses and 124 doctors.

These figures are revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo Ralehoko in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

It works out to about 1 in 7 vacant posts out of the 5334 total staff complement.

The hospital is also short of 253 administrative and support staff, and 40 therapeutic services staff.

According to the MEC, the vacant positions are due to employee deaths, resignations, transfers and retirements.

Since January last year, 650 staff have left. Their exit interviews mention growth prospects, working conditions, family reasons and better remuneration.

The MEC admits the vacancies affect patients negatively as follows:

Increase in infections within the hospital, Patient Safety Incidents (PSI), litigations, waiting times, surgical backlogs, inadequate patient care and complaints.

It is scandalous that there are so many vacancies and resignations, mostly due to poor management and the botched re-opening after the devastating fire in April 2021.

This has led to neglect of patients, increased infections and massive surgery backlogs.

Hospital CEO Gladys Bogoshi has failed in her job and should be replaced with a dynamic new CEO to lead a rejuvenated management team at this flagship hospital.

25 Corruption cases at Charlotte Maxeke hospital

The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital has had 25 corruption-related disciplinary cases in the last five years, six of which involved procurement irregularities.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

The cases include the following:

• Two cases of forged medical certificates – the one employee was dismissed and the other one resigned while facing a disciplinary hearing.
• Selling of jobs – the employee resigned before the disciplinary hearing.
• A bribery case in December 2021 which is still ongoing.
• Fraudulent identity document – this happened in January 2012 but management only became aware of it in January this year, and the employee has absconded.
• Falsification of records – the employee got a final written warning.

I am concerned that disciplinary action has not been concluded in two cases involving procurement irregularities that date back to February and March 2020. According to Mokgethi, these cases “were put on hold subject to the Covid-19 status in the country.”

How can it be that a disciplinary hearing on a critical corruption matter drags on for two years?

In the four other cases of procurement irregularities, one was closed for lack of evidence, one employee absconded, one died, and one resigned before the hearing.

I suspect these cases are the tip of the iceberg. Lackadaisical action against all forms of corruption hurts patients the most as they suffer when money is misappropriated that should be used to provide better treatment.

Patients and staff suffer from further delay in reopening Charlotte Maxeke Hospital casualty unit

It is bitterly disappointing that the re-opening of the casualty unit at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH) has been delayed further to mid-April this year.

This is according to National Health Minister Joe Phaahla who has blamed sabotage for the delay.

Last year Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi promised that it would be opened in January, but the National Health Department had to take over the repair of the hospital after mismanagement and suspected corruption by the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department.

The casualty was then supposed to open in mid-March, and MEC Mokgethi later said she hoped it would be ready at the end of March.

Meanwhile, accident and emergency patients continue to suffer at other hospitals which are over-crowded and short of staff to treat them.

The Helen Joseph Hospital is worst affected, with casualty patients waiting days before being admitted to a ward.

But the strain of extra casualty patients is also felt by the Chris Hani Baragwanath, Edenvale and South Rand hospitals.

I am also concerned that the Hillbrow Community Health Centre has to deal with more casualty patients even though it cannot deal with the more serious cases.

Medical staff are at breaking point because of the bungling of repairs to CMJH.

The Democratic Alliance will continue to campaign for a more speedy reopening of CMJH by involving the private sector to help resolve the bottlenecks.

Patients suffer as Provincial incompetence leads to national take-over of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital repair

It is truly shameful that the Gauteng provincial government has proved incapable of repairing the fire-damaged Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital and has therefore transferred this responsibility to the National Health Department.

I am not surprised, however, as the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department (GDID) is notoriously incompetent and corrupt.

Two fishy contracts totalling R128 million for work on the hospital are being terminated, and nine senior officials have been suspended following the findings of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, said yesterday at a meeting of the Gauteng Legislature Health Committee that her department “had no choice” but to ask the Premier to take the work away from GDID because of the corruption and lack of progress.

Meanwhile, lives are being lost because of unnecessary delays in fully re-opening the hospital.

The Accident and Emergency unit was supposed to open in January but according to Mokgethi will only be ready for patients in mid-March.

This puts massive pressure on other hospitals, particularly Helen Joseph Hospital where patients sleeping overnight in casualty have increased by 500% as they wait to be admitted to a ward.

More deaths can be expected amongst cancer and heart patients, and the waiting lists for surgery at CMJH are up by more than 3000 patients.

It is yet another disaster presided over by Premier David Makhura who perpetually makes poor appointments and fails to prevent corruption despite repeated promises.

The National Health Department should rope in the best private sector expects to speed up the repair of the hospital even before its target of completion by the end of next year.

More delays for Joburg hospital psychiatric ward

The psychiatric ward at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital is in dire need of renovation, but completion of the work has been delayed yet again because the contractor has not been paid.

Renovation of the ward was supposed to be completed in 2014, but this is now the fourth company that has failed to do the job.

Angry workers have flooded the ward with water, forcing the evacuation of medical staff, and mental health patients are now in unsatisfactory temporary wards.

Two years ago, then Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa disclosed that the cost of the ward had tripled to R34 million and she promised that it would be finished in March 2018.

Earlier this year, Health MEC Bandile Masuku said that the ward would be completed by 31 October, but this deadline has not been met.

This shows yet again the utter incompetence of the Department of Infrastructure Development which is repeatedly incapable of choosing building companies that can do the job or doesn’t pay them on time, so they abandon the project.

The new ward would expand the number of beds from 20 to 40, but psychiatric patients at this major hospital continue to suffer in unsuitable facilities despite lessons that should have been learned from the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

How can it be that no fewer than four contractors have failed to complete the new ward which is more than five years overdue?

355 Ops cancelled at Joburg hospital

Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital

355 operations were cancelled at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in 2014, mostly because of time constraints, lack of ICU beds, equipment shortages or no clean linen.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

The major reasons for cancellations are as follows:

• Time constraints: 110
• Underprepared patients: 62
• Non-availability of ICU and High Care beds: 41
• Equipment shortage: 25
• Linen shortage: 15
• Drug shortage: 6

Cancellations

Only seven operations were cancelled because the patient did not show up.

It is clear that most of these cancellations were avoidable with better management and availability of resources.

The high number of cancellations adds to the long waiting list of 2246 patients for operations at this hospital.

There have been further incidents this year of cancelled operations due to linen shortages and the breakdown of air-conditioning in the theatres.

Every effort should be made to avoid unnecessary surgery cancellations that cause immense distress for both staff and patients.

Media enquiries:
Jack Bloom MPL
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health
082 333 4222

[Image source]

Mammogram machine at Joburg Hospital out of action

Many women face an increased risk of dying from breast cancer because the Mammogram machine at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital has broken down.

This x-ray machine plays a critical role in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer.

It broke down last week and it could take six months before a new machine is in operation.

This means that there will be delays in detecting breast cancer that will increase the risk of dying from this disease.

It is really tragic that yet another machinery breakdown is negatively affecting treatment in Gauteng hospitals.

Poor maintenance is largely to blame as well as perennial underspending of machinery budgets.

At a meeting of the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee yesterday, the Gauteng Health Department officially projected an underspend of R47 million on machinery in the current financial year that ends on 31 March.

This is scandalous when there is a great need for new machinery.

The excuses for poor management need to stop, and real action taken to ensure decent health care in this province.

 

Media enquiries:

Jack Bloom MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health

082 333 4222

[Image source]