MEC vows to restore confidence in public health
Patients’ deaths spur plans to shake up the sector
THE NEWLY elected Gauteng MEC for Health, Gwen Ramokgopa, wants to change the face and image of the health sector following the deaths of more than 100 psychiatric patients in the province.
With just over 10 days in office, Ramokgopa – who is not new in the portfolio – exclusively revealed to The Star her plans to restore the confidence of the Gauteng people in the Health Department, including its ability to provide unhindered healthcare to psychiatric patients in the province.
Ramokgopa replaced Qedani Mahlangu, who resigned on the eve of the release of the report of health ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba into the deaths of more than 100 psychiatric patients in the country.
The patients died after being transferred from Life Healthcare Esidimeni to various unlicensed NGOs last year.
In her interview, Ramokgopa, a medical doctor by profession, spoke about a wide range of issues to turn healthcare around in the province, including the employment of medical doctors in clinics and district hospitals with a view to reducing the influx of patients to major hospitals.
Ramokgopa also laid out her plans to drastically reduce the number of medico-legal claims against the department – which had lately amounted to more than R800 million – and, according to Ramokgopa, some of these funds could be channelled to critical service delivery issues needed in the health sector.
But Ramokgopa’s immediate priority now is to secure suitable accommodation and the provision of care for the psychiatric patients following the deaths.
“After the experience of the Esidimeni saga, the reputation of mental healthcare in the province took a serious knock.
“I am going to work with the families of the deceased, as well as those who are still under our care, in an effort to make them believe and have trust in our healthcare,” Ramokgopa said.
She said part of restoring such confidence would be to ensure that the recommendations of Makgoba were implemented, especially the implementation of the disciplinary charges against the suspended head of department Barney Selebano and others who were instrumental in the illegal transfer of psychiatric patients to NGOs.
She said the 60-person panel of medical experts appointed by Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi two weeks ago would continue to oversee the transfer of psychiatric patients to a secure home with proper medical care.
Ramokgopa also promised to rope in external medical experts to bring professional change management in the mental institutions.
She made it quite clear that those who previously worked in these institutions and were responsible for the mess would not be retained.
“There are a number of NGOs in Gauteng with valid licences that have a credible history of looking after mental patients. But those institutions were not considered. Why were they not considered?” she asked.
Ramokgopa appeared troubled by the Esidimeni blunder and tragedy, particularly the fact that she was part of a team of experts that put up guidelines on mental health in 2013 while she was the deputy minister of health.
“We are going to replenish the team and change management,” she said.
Ramokgopa said her other immediate plans would be to try to locate the bodies of 19 psychiatric patients whose whereabouts were unknown.
If found, she was going to ask the police forensic investigation unit to help connect the deceased with their families through DNA analysis.
Yesterday, Ramokgopa began a two-day indaba with senior officials in her department to help her re-familiarise with public sector operations, including identifying issues of immediate priority to tackle head-on.
During the interview, she bemoaned the government’s and the ANC’s inability to have developed a group of cadres in the medical sphere, saying that would have assisted to avoid the Esidimeni saga.
She said the fact that she was called out to resume a job in the public sector as the MEC for health was a cause for concern. “I wanted to go back to private practice. I had retired from the public service when the premier asked me to return to government.
“This clearly shows that there was an urgent need to recruit people with experience in the medical field,” she said.
She does not regret her decision to return to public office, but emphasised that her other immediate priorities would be to fill critical posts in hospitals, particularly hospital boards and committees.
“The appointment of boards and committee members would ensure that they look after the needs of the hospitals. It would not be necessary for me, in my capacity as MEC, to come and check what are the needs of these institutions,” she said.
Ramokgopa also said she would undertake a bold step to remove some of the health professionals working in the Health Department’s headquarters and deploy them to various hospitals and clinics where their expertise was most needed.
“I am going to decongest the headquarters and deploy all the professionals to various health institutions in the province. They would include those with skills in financial management and human resources.
“Other professional medical staff will be deployed to the hospitals where we had high cases of medico-legal claims, to help reduce the numbers,” Ramokgopa said.
She reiterated that the plan to deploy the experts in the various hospitals would save the government costly medical claims.
Ramokgopa also said all primary healthcare facilities would have general practitioners in a bid to prevent people flocking to academic hospitals to receive healthcare.