Former head of health believes Indians being discriminated against
ACONFIDENTIAL e-mail doing the rounds in Bhisho has former head of health Dr Siva Pillay blaming racism for the lack of surgeons at Cecilia Makiwane’s surgical unit.
In an e-mail seen by the Saturday Dispatch, Pillay blames departmental administrators for the situation.
“I honestly believe we either have no recruitment and retention strategy or we are frankly racist and are refusing to employ Indians,” Pillay said in the e-mail.
A number of senior officials within the department confirmed that they had received the e-mail from Pillay.
Two previous surgeons at the hospital, Dr Leopoldt Klaasen and Dr Jose Perez, who used to head the department, left last year after their contracts were not renewed.
“I personally spoke to Dr Klaasen and was convinced that he is able to help. I personally requested that his contract be renewed and have copies of e-mails sent to both human resources senior manager Zoleka Tantsi and deputy director-general Thabo Sibeko to recommend this.
“The only outstanding issue was for the memo to go to MEC Sicelo Gqobana for approval. I was under the impression that his contract had been renewed,” Pillay’s e-mail read.
Pillay left the department in December 2012.
“I had reservations about Dr Perez so I persuaded Ramachandra Reddy to consider the post of specialist surgeon. I personally contacted Tantsi on three occasions about this appointment and also confirmed Reddy’s availability.
“Prior to leaving I asked officials to contact the surgeon.
“I spoke to this doctor because he was a surgeon not because he was Indian. We need to change our way of operating,” Pillay further wrote in the e-mail.
This week intern doctors at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital’s surgery unit in Mdantsane said they feared they could end up killing patients as they worked without the supervision of senior doctors.
In one case the shortage of qualified surgeons may have led to the death of a patient suffering from gangrene.
A doctor, who spoke to the Dispatch on condition of anonymity, said there was not one qualified surgeon in the surgery department.
The doctor said the experience of interning at Cecilia Makiwane was like being thrown in the deep end.
When contacted by the Dispatch, Pillay asked the reporter how he had got hold of the e-mail.
“I’m no longer an employee of the department and I’m not willing to comment on this,” Pillay said when pressed to confirm the e-mail. He did not deny that he had written it.
This week, ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane called on Gqobana to avert the looming health crises at Cecilia Makiwane.
Mabuyane lashed at Gqobana saying “[he] has a duty to ensure that his department delivers quality health care”.
“Efficient recruitment of key personnel in all our health facilities in the province is critical to ensure quality health care.
“We can’t allow a situation where the provincial department of health delays recruitment of medical and healthcare personnel. Delays in recruitment do not affect the department officials but they do affect the ordinary people.”
Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo confirmed that some officials within the department had received the e-mail from Pillay.
“We are busy renewing Klaasen’s contract. Dr Perez’s contract will also be reviewed but not for the CMH surgical unit,” Kupelo said.
On Reddy’s appointment, Kupelo described Reddy as a disappointment to the department.
“This is not a race issue. We have a sizeable number of Indian doctors and administration officials within the department.
“We have other races as well. Since 2011 we have been trying to get Reddy. He joined the department and left several times.
“We cannot have such an unreliable specialist heading the unit,” Kupelo concluded. — mpumziz@dispatch.