The SABC recently aired a story about alleged poor conditions for patients and employees at Witrand hospital.

Workers at the hospital allege that the lack of adequate food, toiletries, and regular power outages, have contributed to patient illnesses and deaths. According to the workers, equipment in the laundry facility, including boilers, are out of order, forcing patients to bath in cold water and contend with dirty clothes and linen.

This however is not a new development, the Herald published a story in 2023 about the same issues still being reported on.

https://www.citizen.co.za/potchefstroom-herald/news/2023/06/01/a-tale-of-woe-at-witrand/

“The patients are suffering. They do not have fruit and vegetables, certain medication or weight gain supplements,” one of the employees who asked to remain anonymous told the Herald in 2023.

The workers who spoke to the SABC, noted the same challenges that workers spoke to the Herald about in 2023. These include amongst others, power outages, food shortages and the dysfunctional laundry.

The department of health responded to the allegations.

“The issues which were raised by SABC Media House are similar to issues that were previously also raised by one Union in June 2023, August 2024 and the recent inquiry. The progress and engagement around these matters were done through the recognized structures which is the Labour Forum and detailed engagements were done. ” said the department in a statement.

According to Tebogo Lekgethwane, Director: Media and Communication for the provincial department of health, the laundry department is functional and is dispatching linen and clothing as per schedule to various wards and areas in the hospital. The non-functional machines will be repaired in 2025/2026 financial year.

“The Laundry machines like any machinery is bound to break from time to time, and are repaired within the available budget. If there are challenges within Laundry services the Management activates a contingency plan to request assistance of laundering services around the District and Province,” Lekgethwane said.

Lekgethwane noted that the Hospital is operating with two Coal-fired Boilers to provide steam for all areas within the hospital and is refurbished as a major capital planning project (IDTS).

“The boilers bid has been advertised and there were no responsive bidders. It was then re-advertised in April 2025 for appointment of a service provider with a closing date of 9th June 2025. To mitigate this risk, Management procured 43 geysers to provide hot water for bathing of patients,” he said.

Addressing concerns over the lack of food within the hospital he said that provisioning of food for patients is as per the menus determined by the Dietician according to patients’ therapeutic diets, namely puree, soft and diabetic diets.

“Catering services is outsourced and budget is allocated to facilities as part of contractual obligations. The Province also assist if there are challenges of food item availability and submission of financial risks. Special provision to buy out of contract is approved by the Head of the Department. The allegations of patient death due to unavailability of food needs to be confirmed by clinicians who have the expertise to diagnose and confirm the death of a patient, however the last time Witrand Hospital experienced food shortage was in March 2024 and a contingency plan of deviation from the Service Level Agreement was approved and the Hospital bought the necessary items. Not a single day went by without patients getting food. As indicated in the video which went viral regarding patients being fed viennas, the Hospital wants to state on record that the picture circulated is as old as 2022 and in the current Service Level Agreement there is no processed food as part of the menus for Witrand Hospital,” Lekgethwane said.

Employees were concerned about continuous power outages which the department ceded happens from time to time due to the old network reticulation which is attended to by Management and the Province (IDTS).

“The Hospital Management is aware of the challenge and is doing everything in their power to restore electricity within the Hospital. Currently IDTS is on site with three (3) rented generators to connect all areas without power whilst finalizing for a permanent solution which is at an advanced state. Already two (2) wards are connected to the generator while the other remaining areas the Service Provider is busy connecting to two (2) other generators. All areas will have power by the end of the day,” he said on Friday.