By Simphiwe Mabhena

This is part of their commitment towards working on the poor state of the public health facilities in the province.

Gauteng Health Member of the Executive Council (MEC) Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko was speaking at the launch of new wards at the Mamelodi Regional Hospital in Gauteng.

The department says it is trying to speed up processes to improve the state of some of the province’s health facilities like the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, the Tembisa Tertiary Hospital and Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, among others.

Nkomo-Ralehoko says, “Gauteng provincial government is committed to improve the infrastructure of hospitals and clinics. We understand that infrastructure is the backbone of our healthcare system. We are officially unveiling five newly refurbished areas and three extended wards here at Mamelodi Regional Hospital. This will ease the pressure and allow us to cater for more patients.”

This comes as a video by Broadcaster Tom London exposed alleged maltreatment of patients by staff and neglected infrastructure at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg.

London said this in his video which has since gone viral on social media. “The doctors run around here, they treat patients like cockroaches. I haven’t seen one doctor walk up to a patient and greet.”

Gauteng Health Head of Department Lesiba Malotana admits that they don’t have enough funds for refurbishments.

But he says they are working around the clock to resolve it. “There is a R250 million ($14,29 million) maintenance shortfall budget, just for the upkeep. That is the argument that we are taking to the province to say that there is an old and ailing infrastructure how then do we maintain that without building new, just to make it work? The province has responded by saying please quantify those needs and come and see how we can help on that.”

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) weighs in on the MEC’s pronouncements.

“As DENOSA in Gauteng, we welcome the pronouncement by Nkomo-Ralehoko to say that they are attending to infrastructure issues. Because we have long cried out to say that the infrastructure needs urgent attention. In terms of employment, we will wait and see because currently, we are still engaging the department in terms of addressing the issue of nurses who are said to be out of contracts.”“Because the issue of shortage of nurses is a reality that our members live with on the ground and we are hoping that the department will be true to their words and fill those vacant positions”

While working on infrastructure, the department says they are aware of the shortage of staff in their institutions, and bringing back retired staff to help with training programmes is one of their resolutions.

--SABC--