Plan to streamline visits to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital
Clinics to help ease the pressure
PATIENTS who collect their medication every month at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Phoenix are being sent to local clinics by the management in an attempt to reduce congestion.
The streamlining procedure was outlined by the hospital’s acting CEO, Bigboy Khawula, during a parliamentary inspection this week.
In November last year, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health Sibongiseni Dhlomo said there had been 734 deaths and 129 stillbirths at the hospital between January and June last year.
The ANC’s Omie Singh, accompanied by other party officials, visited the hospital on Thursday in an attempt to “uncover the challenges” facing the institution.
Addressing the parliamentary team, Khawula said Mahatma Gandhi would embark on a process to improve clinic visits for the public.
He said the large number of patients was putting a strain on staff members.
“We were supposed to serve as a district hospital. Due to the large area we are catering to though, we are operating as a regional hospital without the necessary benefits or resources.
“Patients who come in to collect medication flood our out-patient department. Instead, we want to give them the option of going to their nearest clinic,” he said.
Patients who visit the hospital just to collect chronic medication are being identified and the programme has already been initiated, with 40% of them having been identified already.
Their medication is selected at the hospital and sent to the patients’ nearest clinic for collection.
Assistant pharmaceutical manager Cyantha Subramoney said that by December all patients on chronic medication would have been sent to their local clinics to collect their medication.
Khawula said he hoped this would ease the pressure on the hospital, which is facing a shortage of both nurses and doctors.
Singh said the hospital inspection was “not a witch hunt”, but “procedure”.
“We cannot expect you to produce without the proper tools. Our aim is to help you give the community the kind of treatment they deserve,” said Singh.
Khawula, who divides his time working at Mahatma
I am not making excuses for the staff, but they are human. No matter how much they try, they are overworked and overstretched
Gandhi and the Port Shepstone Hospital, said he had written to the Department of Health a month after his appointment in June, requesting that the open posts be filled as soon as possible.
He said staff were forced to work more overtime shifts than was healthy for them but added that this did not excuse their negative attitude towards patients, a common complaint from those who frequent the hospital.
“I am not making excuses for the staff, but they are only human. No matter how much they try, they are overworked and overstretched.
“When you should be seeing 40 patients but are dealing with 97, something can happen. But a bad attitude by staff is a dismissible offence. We need to behave positively towards our clients at all times,” said Khawula.