DA is concerned about Bethal Hospital and Govan Mbeki Municipality
Department of Health have lots to answer to
BETHAL – The DA called on the Department of Health in Mpumalanga to intervene at the collapsing of Bethal Hospital.
The DA wrote a letter to the director-general of the department, Mr Sandile Buthelezi, asking him or an urgent intervention and assurance that the situation at Bethal Hospital will be rectified immediately.
Just a few months after the opening of this new re-built hospital, it has collapsed and according to the DA, there is a human rights crisis looming.
Bethal sometimes only have seven hours of electricity daily and the hospital is also impacted by this.
Ms Lindy Wilson, the DA’s deputy shadow minister of health, said the constant fluctuation of the electricity supply has rendered the autoclaves and anaesthetic equipment in the hospital’s new theatre usesless.
“The generator, that provides back up when these forced power cuts occur, is not functional and the hospital is unable to operate for most of each day,” said Ms Wilson.
“The ventilators and oxygen machines cannot operate and lives are put at immediate risk. Doctors cannot perform operations out of fear that the electricity will go off and the kitchen at the hospital is not able to provide meals.
“At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is surging, patients are being turned away from the hospital and referred to other hospitals in the district who are also turning them away because of a lack of capacity.”
The DA reckons after more than a hundred days of the lockdown, it is obvious that the Mpumalanga Department of Health has failed to prepare the health system in Mpumalanga.
In its letter to the Department of Health, the DA asked parliamentary questions to the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkize.
“He must explain why he is misleading the public about the preparedness of health systems to deal with the current crisis,” said Ms Wilson.
“Any loss of life in this hospital is because of the appalling mismanagement by the provincial Health Department and is a human rights violation and will have severe consequences.”
The letter read that the DA is concerned about the department’s inability to manage, sustain and improve health facilities.
“What is even more concerning is that the minister gives assurances that health systems have been improved across South Africa and are better equipped to deal with the pandemic that is sweeping through the country. This is clearly no the truth.”
The DA also requested an investigation into the sorry state of affairs at the Govan Mbeki Municipality with regards to the municipality’s Eskom debt.
“The DA will not sit back while lives are being lost because of the gross mismanagement and incompetence of this ANC government,” said Ms Wilson.
The Ridge Times contacted the Department of Health for comment, but did not get a reply at the time of going to print.
Stats for Mpumalanga as of 22 July:
