The state of health in Gauteng is in a dire situation as negligence, short staff, lack of medical facilities for patients and orthopaedic beds are a serious predicament faced by the provincial Department of Health. Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Pretoria is one of the many hospitals faced with medical challenges affecting patients who access public hospitals.
Gauteng News was informed that a patient from Atteridgeville was in an accident three months ago and went to Kalafong Hospital to seek medical assistance. The patient was told almost every week that he must prepare for an operation but three months passed without doctors attending the patient.
“I would like to take this platform to challenge our government about the state of health in Gauteng and particularly Kalafong Hospital. My friend was admitted for months at the hospital and without any progress he stayed with a broken hand waiting for doctors to operateon his joints,” said Lerato Tau, a complainant who contacted Gauteng News.
The MEC of Health Dr. Bandile Masuku added during his media release of 100 days in office in September this year that Gauteng Health is facing enormous challenges, however, these challenges are not too great to overcome and they are well known predicaments. Challenges faced by the Kalafong hospital include, inadequate service delivery, poor infrastructure, shortage of equipment, and medical negligence litigation expenditure.
During the media briefing the MEC added that the department has allocated resources to fill critical posts, further estimating that a total of 1,974 posts will be occupied by the end of 2019. Though the department has released funds to solve some of the critical challenges, service delivery and negligence is still a major issue in the province.
Gauteng News spoke to Kwara Kekana spokesperson of Department of Health, “At the moment as a department we need to investigate the matter in Kalafong Hospital so we can be in a better position to provide an appropriate comment and take necessary action to end lack of service delivery and negligence.”Our journalists attempted to get hold of Kalafong Hospital but we were unable to receive comment.
