Doctors’ march injects action
Angry medics catch KZN Health by surprise
THE KZN Health Department said the march by about 1 000 doctors and nurses through Durban’s CBD would be a “turning point” in meeting their demands.
It conceded the extent of the problems facing the critical service, and that the upper echelons may not have understood the depth of the issues because they were “removed from operations” at ground level.
The doctors and nurses were protesting against the lack of action by the department in dealing with key issues such as staff shortages.
The department’s admission comes hot on the heels of a call by KZN Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, in which he asked patients to not sue the department with medical negligence claims, which recent reports indicated were around R10 billion.
Believing their concerns had fallen on deaf ears, state doctors and nurses embarked on the march, calling on Dhlomo to resign.
While Dhlomo kept a low profile and was believed to have accompanied national Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to a special health session at the World Economic Forum Africa yesterday, KZN Health head of department, Dr Sifiso Mtshali, was sent to listen to the doctor’s grievances.
Mtshali did little to ease the rowdy crowd, and he left with a promise to hear their concerns at a meeting with medical unions scheduled for early next week, which he said would mark a “turning point”.
Doctors said they were tired of the department not listening to their complaints of a lack of staff, long hours, lack of facilities and broken equipment.
“There is a lack of staff, we have to work long hours, the patients don’t get the care they need because staff are burned out and stressed. There is a lack of on-the-job training for nurses, medical records are not kept safe which leads to an inability to defend litigation matters,” said Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa, chairman of the South African Medical Association’s KZN branch.
He said it was “very stupid” of the department to find money to invest in a legal unit to assess medical litigation claims from patients, yet money could not be found to employ doctors and nurses to ease the staff load.
“There are so many issues facing the department, our software is so outdated, and our medical records are not kept safe and we don’t even have the ability to defend ourselves when faced with those medical claims.
“It comes down to poor institutional leadership and we have to make a stand, especially for the poorest of the poor who come to us doctors and nurses for help,” said Mzukwa.
Doctors who spoke on condition of anonymity at the march said the situation at ground level was dire.
A doctor at Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Umlazi said during her shift in the casualty ward, she ran out of basic supplies.
“I ran out of rabies vaccines and tetanus shots. These are basic medical supplies in the ward, and we have had many people coming in with dog bites. Other items such as gloves and needles also are in short supply,” she said.
Another doctor, working in the audiology ward at the R540-million KZN Children’s Hospital at the beachfront, which reopened in 2013, lamented malfunctioning equipment.
“We deal with children but we are unable to diagnose properly because our machines are not calibrated properly so we don’t get the right results to be able to treat the children. Our work is very important as it may mean the difference to hear or not, and this impacts on a child’s learning,” she said.
Mtshali signed the memorandum outlining the doctors’ concerns delivered to him, and said: “It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this protest as we should have met first to hear your concerns. We will meet next week with the unions to discuss and find each other and talk. I’m not going to stand here and deny what’s happening on the ground. I saw doctors myself and they are all telling me the same concerns. It (the problems) may have been caused by us, we are probably removed from operations, we should have seen the anger and frustration.”
He later said in a telephonic interview that not all problems were the department’s fault.
“As an example, some issues may have to be referred to national treasury or the exchange rate may impact on finances. When it comes to medication, we have a system that tracks and monitors supply, so the clinic manager or person on duty has the technology to request supplies, so we don’t know how that is an issue, but this is the time for us to talk about these things,” he said.
Mtshali added that the unions and the department would work out their respective priority areas of concern. “It’s going to be a turning point,” he said.