DA slams health dept

It was no secret the Gauteng department of health (GDoH) had “dismally failed” on the management of academic hospitals as the Democratic Alliance Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom said sabotaged repairs at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital could have been avoided.

According to Bloom, the department spent R40 million a year on security and it was critical to find out what was really going on within that department.

“One can be very cynical here because we have seen corruption involved,” he said.

“There is no excuse for the provincial government to not run effectively and there is no guarantee that the national department will do any better.”

Bloom claimed the National Health Insurance had a plan to take over the academic hospitals, however, it was “shameful the GDoH incompetence” had led to a takeover of the hospital.

He said health was a provincial competency and it was appalling that the department had to give it up to the national health department. “The DA believes the hospital should be [managed] at provincial level and it should be well run but the real issue is the competence of the GDoH. Who’s to say the hospital would be better run at national level than provincial?”

The Charlotte Maxeke Hospital’s accident and emergency unit was almost fully repaired, and will reopen in mid-April. Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla visited the hospital on Monday to check on progress.

Meanwhile, the GDoH said it was working on decreasing the backlog of nearly 11 000 post-mortem reports in the province.