Health reports denied

THE health-care service in the country is not on the verge of collapse, despite some facilities lagging behind in terms of compliance with norms and standards of the Department of Health.

The performance of some health facilities was sketched in the 2016-17 report tabled by the Office of Health Standards Compliance in Parliament last week.

However, its chief executive, Dr Siphiwe Mndaweni, yesterday dismissed media reports which suggested that health services in the country were in a shambles.

Mndaweni said: “If the health-care system was in a shambles it would be in disarray… and one would not say that.”

The report suggested that only five of the 696 hospitals and clinics inspected complied with the health department’s norms and standards by virtue of securing the 80% pass mark.

“There have been reports that only five or so facilities actually reached the pass mark.

“You will all understand that even in a class there will be distinctions and there will be students who get average marks. What we used is called a compliance judgement framework,” Mndaweni said.

The compliance judgement framework looked at various ranges of compliance and not only at facilities that scored 80% and above.

“Even those facilities that scored 70% to 79% were still compliant, but there must be a particular requirement that they must fulfil,” she said.

“The question is: does it mean that a non-complaint facility does not provide adequate services? No, these facilities are fully functional.”

Mndaweni emphasised that non-compliant facilities didn’t mean that those facilities were not providing services.