The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Mrs Violet Mtongana, tabled a report on visits undertaken by the committee to hospitals in the OR Tambo district between 5 and 9 October 2009.
The agenda set out for the Portfolio Committee on Health was to visit hospitals prior to the institutional programme known as ‘Taking Legislature to the People’. From these visits, the committee was required to make findings and recommendations and to report these to the house. The hospitals visited were Isilimela, Holy Cross, St Lucy’s, Zithulele, Bambisana, Siphethu Nessie Knight and St Barnabas.
The chairperson highlighted challenges in the following areas; human resources, infrastructure, fleet management, pharmaceutical services, information and communications technology, tuberculosis (TB) management, the state of the roads leading to hospitals, laboratory services, infection control, amongst others.
The community was afforded the opportunity to ask the portfolio committee and the MEC questions. Issues raised by the community included the high number of deaths of initiates during circumcision season, the issue of who qualifies for antiretrovirals, water shortages at certain hospitals as well as major drug shortages. The absence of nurses who do not understand sign language was also raised as an impediment to addressing people with hearing and speech challenges.
The chairperson addressed some of these questions posed by the community. Honourable Dimaza also clarified certain issues raised by the communities especially the issue of circumcision.
The MEC rounded off the questions by committing to address the topic of sign language interpreters. He stated that the department was addressing the issue of the shortage of nursing professionals and that the department has been concentrating its efforts on Lilitha College to produce more nurses. He added that retired nurses and other professionals have been called back in order to address the skills shortage. In relation to management capacity, the MEC said that the department is scrutinising all district managers and chief executive officers of hospitals.
The MEC also encouraged people to test for TB in order to detect it early. He explained that the department was in talks to purchase the TB hospitals. The communities were reminded that hospitals that are not devoted TB hospitals have isolated rooms to treat TB patients. The interaction between the portfolio committee, the MEC and the community was seen as a step forward for the provision of healthcare in the Eastern Cape.
Issued by: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
15 October 2009
Source: Department of Health, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
(http://www.ecdoh.gov.za/)
