Plan to get Gauteng Health out of ICU
GAUTENG Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa will head the intervention team appointed to co-ordinate a recovery plan for the troubled Gauteng Health Department, the Gauteng government said.
A statement issued after a media conference by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and Ramokgopa said the provincial department had recently been beset by a number of problems, heightened by the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
Following the health ombudsman recommendations, Makhura has been working closely with Motsoaledi and Ramokgopa to implement the recommendations, as well as ensure that the public health system in Gauteng functions optimally.
“The Gauteng Health Department is the biggest health system, not only in South Africa, but on the continent,” the premier said.
“It is also a very complex system to run as it offers a huge training platform for health professionals working with three universities in the province.
“It therefore requires a competent, efficient, effective and dedicated management to lead the 68 000 workforce servicing 27 million patient visits per annum.”
It emerged that there were crucial inadequacies in the capacities, capabilities and competencies in the system. And these management inadequacies and incapacities had been exposed by the Life Esidimeni tragedy. “In the aftermath of the tragedy and in trying to solve these unfortunate incidents, the premier recalled from retirement an experienced health leader who ably led the Department of Health in Gauteng up to 2006 and also served as a deputy minister of health, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa,” the statement said.
“Even with her experience, it is clear that she cannot turn around the whole department on her own. She needs a high-quality management team to turn the fortunes of the department around.”
Last week, the premier announced that experienced financial manager Michael Sachs would help to sort out the department’s financial woes.
The team’s terms of reference are to be completed in the next few days.