Madonsela ‘saddened’ by state of Mamelodi Hospital

The visit was part of the currently ongoing Good Governance Week, which is observed to promote service delivery at state facilities, her spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi said.

“As part of the activities, we do unannounced visits to service centres to check if there is proper service delivery, and this year we chose Mamelodi Hospital,” Masibi said.

Madonsela further voiced disappointment at the state of the hospital.

“I am deeply saddened. People were sleeping on the floor and even on wheelchairs, which are also used as stretchers. There is no dignity in what we saw and everyone is entitled to human dignity,” she told Rekord East.

Earlier this year, media reports stated up to six sickly children had to share a mattress in the hospital due to a shortage of beds

“The patients are angry because they believe it is the hospital that treats them like this. One lady was frustrated that she had not been fed and was sitting in casualty for the past four days, waiting to be admitted into a ward.”

Hospital CEO Dr Lungiswa Adonis said the shortage of beds was due to insufficient space.

“The hospital was not designed for this number of patients. It is not that we cannot afford to buy beds, but even if we do, we do not have the space for them.”

Adonis said other issues included shortage of staff due to a lack of money.

Further media reports alleged the hospital had purchased nine laundry machines which had not been used, while the hospital actually needed a proper filing system. The department of health denied the allegations. Madonsela said her team would investigate.

“We will look at both hospital management and government to see who actually made that purchase,” Madonsela said.

– Caxton News Service