CYRIL FARR of Bonaero Park writes:
We have periodically read depressing articles in Kempton Express giving flimsy explanations from the former Gauteng Health MEC, Qedani Mahlangu, as to why there is an intolerable delay in re-furbishing/demolishing and completely re-building the rapidly crumbling Kempton Park Hospital.
As the national healthcare system began deteriorating under the new ANC administration, Kempton Park Hospital was inexplicably closed down well over a decade ago. That placed a crippling burden on our other local provincial hospital in Tembisa, resulting in its gaining a shameful reputation as one of the most appalling and dangerous hospitals in the country with astronomical preventable death stats.
It has a terrible lack of empathetic nursing and medical care.
To add to the future health care crisis, the provincial health administrations made several crucial blunders, one of the worst of which was the closure of all the excellent nursing training colleges. That was a huge blow to both patient care and nursing students, who received superb free on-hospital-site tuition in return for serving a term of internship after qualifying.
The shocking scandal whereby 94 (and counting) psychiatric patients senselessly died terrible deaths due to general neglect and malnutrition, hypothermia (dying from being too cold), hunger and thirst, while being under the supposed care of the Gauteng Health department, has shocked the nation to the core.
The Health Ombudsman, Prof Malegapuru Makgoba, has ruled that Ms Qedani Mahlangu and her management colleagues must take ultimate responsibility for the horror, and be suitably punished for their crimes against humanity.
At last we now know the real reason why there has been such an appalling snail’s pace in restoring Kempton Park Hospital to its former level of competence. The name Qedani bubbles up to the fore.
Her weak excuses concerning Kempton Park Hospital were just hot air and it is actually her heartless incompetence and lack of will that is the reason for the chronic inertia in restoring the hospital.
Truth be told, she and her colleagues just don’t give a damn for the health care of vulnerable non-medical aid patients.
After her departure from office hopefully opposition politicians like Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom will now interact with her successor and the superb national Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, in an attempt to get them to act honourably and work with speed to restore the hospital to its former exemplary status. It’s unacceptable that Kempton Park pensioners and the needy continue to suffer and even die due to political incompetence.
