Scooter to clinic plan stays

The Eastern Cape government plans to continue with its R10 million scooter project, Premier Oscar Mabuyane said on Tuesday.

He added that the 100 scooters acquired by the provincial health department was first discussed by national Cabinet last year as an innovative intervention for primary healthcare in rural areas.

“We said we don’t want people in hospitals. We must have capacity in our clinics to distribute medicine.”

Mabuyane said he had commissioned a comprehensive report on the project after the provincial government and health department were criticised.

“It’s a service that we need [in the Eastern Cape].

“We have got to reconcile it with all the other issues, and so on, to make a point and remove all doubt and all the negativity around it,” said Mabuyane.

The controversial scooter project, launched on 12 June in East London, was touted as a solution to address the issue of people being carted in wheelbarrows to hospitals in rural areas.

However, it was viewed as a failure by the public, with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize admitting that the scooters did not meet the requirements to be used as ambulances.

On the day of the launch, six scooters fitted with a bed, gazebo, first-aid kit and oxygen were unveiled by health MEC Sindiswa Gomba and Mkhize.

Due to mounting public outrage and questions raised over the tender for the 100 scooters, a bid adjudication committee was then assembled to review the processes followed in awarding the tender.

The investigation was commissioned by the Eastern Cape department of health.

The project received more bad reviews when Mkhize, who had praised it at the launch and promised to urge other provinces to follow suit, made an about-turn.

He told parliament the scooters did not meet the basic criteria to be used for “patient transport as ambulances”.

The province has also been criticised over its collapsing healthcare system in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the issues raised were staff shortages and inefficient intensive care unit beds.

Mabuyane said at least 2 000 healthcare workers in the province have been infected and 35 had died due to the virus.

“The current pandemic presents us with an opportunity to fundamentally transform the provincial department to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in delivering services.

“The intervention of the project management unit is part of starting this transformation process.

“The benefits for the people of our province will be the highly efficient and quality healthcare system that they yearn for,” he added.

– News24