POLOKWANE – Patients at Mankweng Hospital noted that they have been waiting for a long time to receive their files. This follows an oversight visit and picketing by the EFF in the province today (May 29).

According to the EFF, they are picketing against the criminal collapse of public healthcare under the ANC government.

Led by EFF provincial chairperson Lawrence Mapoulo, along with other members, the party visited wards where they heard concerns about long waiting times to be helped and payment issues.

One of the patients, Rosina Maenetsa, noted that she is unemployed and cannot afford to pay the fees.

One of the nurses noted that they are understaffed.

Mapoulo said that they met with the CEO to get an overview of the challenges facing the hospital, and he noted that she did not come clean.

“We later on requested permission to visit the wards and a number of areas we feel are not in order at the hospital. We started with the admissions area. They are still using the old way of capturing patients,” he said.

Mapoulo noted that the EFF thought the hospital was using digital means of capturing patients.

He further noted that patients are told to pay more than R3 000, yet when the leading party was campaigning, they told citizens that they would not need to pay for anything.

He said they were lying to the public when they promised free public health.

“If you are turned back from the hospital, or any of your family members lose their lives after being turned back from the hospital, you have the responsibility to hold this government to account. They can pay for all the trauma, including the loss of loved ones,” he said.

He described the situation at the hospital as deeply concerning, as it is one of the province’s major referral hospitals that receives patients from different healthcare facilities across the province.