Spokesperson claims contingency measures ensured continuity of care while medics say ICU lacked renal filters for two months.
Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital. Picture: iStock
Government spokespeople generally have two major problems: they take ages to respond to queries from journalists and, when they finally do, they either try to bury logic in waffle, divert attention or, in some worrying cases, flat-out lie.
We have to ask whether Gauteng department of health spokesperson Steve Mabona may have been economical with the truth in his recent comments on an alleged crisis around dialysis treatment at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
After claims that the hospital had run out of consumables for the treatments, Mabona said these allegations were not true, because “contingency measures” were implemented to allow “continuity of care”.
However, as our main story today suggests, medics working at the hospital have an entirely different version of reality. Our source said the supply situation had been serious enough to compromise patient care over an extended period.
According to the source, the intensive care unit had gone without filters required for renal replacement therapy for two months and no other facility had been able to lend the hospital supplies because the account with the supplier had allegedly been placed on hold.
Major surgeries had also been deliberately postponed because the hospital could not guarantee dialysis support afterwards, the source said, adding that media pressure had spurred the department into sorting out payment problems so the supplier agreed to release stock.
That is a serious difference in facts, not merely interpretation.
In terms of motives, a government spokesperson might be driven by a desire to put the best spin possible on what happened – or embroider facts – to protect his employer. However, what motivation would a hospital medic have to lie?
This calls for a proper inquiry, rather than questionable spin-doctoring.
