Inspectors to wield big stick at public hospitals

THE GOVERNMENT plans to appoint inspectors to force public hospitals to be clean and offer an efficient professional service. And offending hospitals will face heavy penalties.

These form part of the government’s plans to improve the quality of health services.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he would table legislation in terms of which the Office of Health Standards Compliance would be set up.

“The inspectors will visit hospitals unannounced and check whether the toilets are clean… whether people are receiving quality health care,” he said.

Motsoaledi said 10 inspectors had received training, with more to follow. The new office would be similar to the Quality Care Commission in Britain.

Inspectors would look at cleanliness, safety and security, staff attitudes, infection control, queues and drug stocks.

The minister said the form and severity of punishments for offending hospitals were still being worked out.

Other government plans included introducing National Health Insurance, building two teaching hospitals and reviving nursing colleges.

During a presentation to the SA National Editors’ Forum in Cape Town, Motsoaledi said the ban on alcohol advertising was “going to be reality”.

The proposed ban has met stiff opposition from the private sector, which has warned it will lead to job losses.

But Motsoaledi was adamant. “There is no way we can’t do that,” he said.

He echoed comments in President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address that SA, after coming to grips with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, faced an even greater pandemic in noncommunicable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.

He pointed out that 19 percent of the world’s sufferers of non-communicable diseases were found in SA. – Staff Reporter