Matsanjeni Health Centre will be prioritised in next deployments
MBABANE – The troubled Matsanjeni Health Centre will be prioritised in the next deployments of new staff amid complaints of poor service delivery at the facility.
This publication reported the challenges this health was encountering in providing good service delivery to different communities in the area. It was also reported that the health centre, like most public health facilities in the country, was facing serious medical drugs shortage .
The Ministry of Health’s Communication Officer, Nsindiso ‘Masterpiece’ Tsabedze, promised that the issue of staff shortages was also being tackled. He further assured that due attention will be given to the Matsanjeni Health Centre in this regard.
DEPLOYMENTS
“The issue of staff shortages is also being tackled. The facility (Matsanjeni Health Centre) will be prioritised in the next deployments of new staff,” Tsabedze said.
The issue of staff shortage at the facility was raised to the area’s Member of Parliament (MP) Sabelo Ndlangamandla by residents after failing to get proper service due to insufficient manpower.
On the issue of the medical drugs shortage at the facility,
Tsabedze said: “The Ministry is aware of some medical drugs shortages at the facility and other facilities and is putting all efforts towards expediting deliveries of these drugs. According to records at CMS, the facility received medical drugs from the recently delivered stock of drugs. They will get more when suppliers deliver on some expected orders.”
Asked on when the Health Minister, Mduduzi Matsebula, would be visiting the facility to assess the situation, Tsabedze said this was part of the legislator’s plan.
“The minister has a plan to assess all major health facilities and has already started visiting some facilities. Matsanjeni Health Centre is also scheduled for a visit and the facility will be informed when this will happen,” the communications officer said.
Approached for comment on these developments, the Matsanjeni South MP said they were waiting impatiently for the health minister’s visit to assess the situation.
ASSESS
“It is good news that the minister will be coming to assess the situation on the ground and we hope this will not take forever. I have been repeatedly requesting the minister to come here because people who use the Matsanjeni Health Centre are not happy. People cannot get medical drugs and there is evident shortage of personnel, yet the patients that come for medical assistance are many,” Ndlangamandla said. Matsanjeni Health Centre services communities like Sigwe, Somntongo, Nsoko, Lulwane, Bhekindoda, Madonela, Nondabuya and Oshabeni among others.
The negative impact of the Matsanjeni
Health Centre’s poor service delivery was highlighted recently when an assaulted soldier could not get proper medical treatment and had to be transferred to the Manzini Clinic (formerly Imphilo Clinic). It was established that the facility could not provide the badly-hurt soldier with the necessary medication.
VICTIMS
This past weekend, there was a fatal accident at Sigwe, where a number of victims were rushed to the Matsanjeni Health Centre for treatment. However, after spending just one night there, the survivors of this accident were eventually transferred to Hlatikhulu Government Hospital due to the shortage of drugs.
“Matsanjeni Health Centre is near to residents and if it is not functioning well, then it means people now have to travel long distances just to seek medical attention. Some are forced to travel as far as Manzini or Ezulwini just to get medical help. This is costly for them and we plead with the Health Ministry to find a quick solution to this challenge,” he said. Ndlangamandla said it was also gratifying to hear that the ministry is working on addressing the staff-shortage challenge as well. “Such a busy health facility needs strong personnel and again, we put our trust on the Health minister to find a lasting solution to this. We are happy that the minister is acknowledging this challenge,” the legislator said.