SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has slammed the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Heath Service as unprofessional and unconcerned about citizens’ health needs.
The scathing report highlights how various facilities lack urgency in attending to patients.
Some 30 regional and district healthcare facilities were sampled during the research.
The PSC said the overall impression was that there were serious challenges.
“The system must be improved to be more deliberate in terms of inculcating a thriving culture of professional ethics; in policies that are more responsive; in decisions that are quicker and geared towards impacting lives on a daily basis,” the PSC said.
It found serious problems with infrastructure that included poor ventilation in waiting areas and consultation rooms, and inadequate bed capacity.
Noting that the Province had been cited in the media for broken oncology machines, PSC investigators also found there had been failure to maintain other crucial equipment including echocardiograms, cataract sets and urology telescopic sets.
Provincial Secretary of the Democratic Nurses’ Organisation of South Africa, Mandla Shabangu said he had repeatedly raised these issues with the authorities only to be slapped down for misleading the public.
Spokesperson for the Provincial Department of Health, Ncumisa Mafunda said the Department welcomed the report and would use its recommendations and findings to correct the issues found.
Durban, 5 July 2018
