12 October 2006
Johannesburg Hospital, voted the best hospital in the Greater Joburg area by
the readers of The Star in 2004, has demonstrated once again that it is one of
the best hospitals in the country when it stood the test of sensational
journalism, riding on the bandwagon of the opportunistic opposition politics
article for The Star.
After the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was admitted to a
section meant to attract medical aid patients to the hospital (Folateng) last
week, the Democratic Alliance was up in arms saying Tshabalala-Msimang should
have been admitted to a general ward, (Jack Bloom's letter to the editor � 10
October 2006). Pushing the same line, ETV demanded access to the hospital in
order to film the section where the Minister was accommodated and the general
wards. As hospitals are public institutions, the hospital Chief Executive
Officer said the ETV team was free to do its work.
I understood that the intention was to prove the DA hypothesis that
Tshabalala-Msimang was accommodated in a posh environment of a private ward
while the rest of the patients were being treated under "appalling conditions"
of the wards for the general public. The ETV reporter and photographer came on
Sunday, 8 October 2006, morning and started by filming the Folateng section. In
an interview, I explained that the same team of doctors working at Folateng
also provide a service to the rest of the hospital.
The section was established to raise revenue from medical aid patients and
use it to improve the rest of the hospital. The trend in the expenditure of
medical schemes indicates that much of the health resources go into paying
medical specialist and private hospital fees. The public health sector is the
main loser in the current spending pattern as public hospitals have to absorb
all those patients who most often exhaust their medical aid benefits in the
private health sector.
About a year ago, the private sector spent R43 billion on servicing only
about 15% of the population (7 million people covered by medical schemes),
while the state used R33,2 billion to care for the rest of the population (38
million people). The crew moved on to the general section of the hospital. A
matron in charge directed the team to a ward that was recently renovated,
partly as a result of the revenue raised at Folateng.
The crew took a few shots and objected, saying the ward does not resemble
the rest of the hospital. The matron walked them over to ward 491, which has
not been improved. Personally, I was amazed by the environment we found there
since I am always bombarded with allegations of low staff morale and other
issues that paint a grim image of the public health sector. The staff members
have turned the wall behind the reception desk into "a wall of fame" where they
paste pictures of memorable moments at the hospital.
On the opposite wall hang framed certificates demonstrating various academic
achievements of the ward staff. At the corner is a notice board where all the
thank you cards and letters from former patients are pasted. I wished I could
use them to flood the letter's pages of newspapers. The crew took pictures of
the ward and bathrooms, spending noticeably less time than they had spent
building a picture profile of the Folateng earlier on.
They left quickly while the matron was still offering other site visits.
Were they leaving because of the resource challenges at their station (the pair
was the only team available for Gauteng that weekend and had to also cover a
prominent African National Congress press conference that afternoon) or were
they disappointed with pictures that were disproving the story idea? I
pondered.
The prime time news that evening came and the story was profiled in the
opening headlines as "another public relations gone bad" for the Health
Minister. When the story was finally run, almost 20 minutes into the 30-minute
news bulletin, it did not have any of the pictures taken at Johannesburg
Hospital that morning. Instead, file pictures of the Minister at a press
meeting in August were used with a voiceover stating the original story idea of
anonymous people that are angry over the health Minister's admission to
Folateng while the public wards were "in shambles."
One day, we will all learn that undue criticism of democratically elected
public representatives even at a time when they have taken ill, is not the only
means to gain more viewers and voters. Not that we expected well-wishes from
ETV's editor-in-chief or the leader of the so-called official opposition, but
keeping quiet where there is nothing to mourn about does not cause any harm.
Our gratitude goes to all staff at Johannesburg General Hospital for their
determination to provide quality service despite many challenges. Your patient
appreciates it.
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Spokesperson for the Minister of Health
Cell: 082 772 0161
Issued by: Ministry of Health
12 October 2006
Source: Ministry of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
