Team to rebuild Gauteng health
GAUTENG premier David Makhura has announced a high-level intervention team to coordinate a recovery plan for the ailing Gauteng Department of Health.
Makhuru said it had emerged there were critical inadequacies in the capacities, capabilities‚ and competencies to run the provincial health system‚ which had clearly been exposed by the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, former health MEC Dr Gwen Ramokgopa had been recalled from retirement.
But even with her experience it was clear that she could not turn around the whole department on her own.
“She needs a high-quality management team to turn the fortunes of the department around,” Makhura said. “This is why we are announcing an intervention team.”
He said the provincial health system was massive.
“It requires a competent‚ efficient‚ effective and dedicated management to lead the 6 800-strong workforce servicing 27 million patient visits a year,” Makhura said
The team includes Mkhululi Lukhele‚ a professor of orthopaedics at Wits University and former head of the Wits School of Clinical Medicine; Craig Househam‚ a retired professor of paediatrics and child health and former department head in the Western Cape health department; Dr Edith Mntla‚ a senior lecturer at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University; and Nomvula Marawa‚ a former national health department director and currently on the Health Ministerial National Health Insurance Restructuring Committee.
The DA’s Gauteng spokesman on health matters‚ Jack Bloom, said they would need top-level political support to clear the rot.
Bloom welcomed the announcement of the intervention team but said it “should have happened far sooner as the department has been deeply dysfunctional for many years”.
He said a number of turnaround plans had been announced in the past and they had all failed.
“Top-level political support will be needed for the team to succeed as many incompetent cadres should be fired and politically connected corruption networks destroyed,” he said. – TimesLIVE