Oncology blame does not fall on KZN Health MEC

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo has escaped the axe, despite the problems plaguing his department.

Instead, at a briefing at the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg yesterday, the finger of blame was pointed at the head of the Health Department and the department’s management.

The briefing was held after the South African Human Rights Commission released a damning report this week, detailing the problems with the oncology departments at key KZN hospitals.

Premier Willies Mchunu said he had viewed the calls for Dhlomo’s axing seriously and his assessment was that there was dereliction of duty, but Dhlomo was not responsible for the trouble that had affected the department. He said the provincial treasury had to intervene.

The premier was speaking after he, along with Dhlomo and Finance MEC Belinda Scott, tabled a series of interventions to turn around the crisis in the department.

Dhlomo said management was expected to operationalise administrative work and failure to do so led to unnecessary instability, such as strikes and go-slows, particularly among EMS and mortuary staff.

“The accounting officer (head of department) is not able to confirm stability in these areas. This creates mistrust and low morale of the staff who are performing such critical work,” he said.

Regarding the oncology machines, Dhlomo said the procurement of services, including purchase of or repairs of equipment, was the sole responsibility of the accounting officer – the head of department – and not that of the executive authority, the political head.

He said various chief executives of hospitals and clinicians had complained that the centralisation of repairs of machines was frustrating to institutions. Repairs sometimes took months to complete.

Dhlomo said he had been adamant to management that the machines needed urgent attention. Advice from Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi to budget for spare machines for use, while others were being repaired, was not heeded by management, he said.

“(The head of department) has not efficiently dealt with this matter, resulting in a backlog of patients to be treated, increasingly low morale and frustration of doctors and nurses. The gradual resignation of oncologists is related to this. It is a matter delegated to be addressed by the accounting officer and the university combined,” he said.

Asked whether, as a relatively new HoD, Dr Sifiso Mtshali would be held accountable for a crisis that preceded his tenure, Scott said it would be unfair to “lump” the department’s problems on one person but he was a seasoned official and “as the accounting officer” ... the buck stops with him”.

Scott said: “There have been a couple of forensic investigations and therew will be recommendations for disciplinary action ... it might not just be the accounting officer it could also be other people as well.”