Murchison Hospital not under administration

The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has refuted claims that five hospitals – including Murchison Hospital – had recently been placed under administration.

The department labelled the claims “nothing but false and misleading allegations”.

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This was in response to a statement from DA Health Portfolio spokesman, Dr Imran Keeka, which said that Murchison, Northdale, Ladysmith, Ngwelezane and RK Khan hospitals were about to be placed under administration due to their poor performance.

According to Dr Keeka, these hospitals were the worst performing and most problematic facilities in the province, and struggled with long queues, rude staff, under-staffing, and shortages of medical supplies and equipment.

Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said he was not aware of any such decision.

According to the MEC, these hospitals will only be receiving support to help them address serious service delivery challenges as part of the national health department’s initiative to find challenges facing health care facilities, and provide solutions.

“Teams made up of national and provincial health officials will be spending a few days at these hospitals to ensure service delivery hiccups are identified early and dealt with.”

The MEC added that this initiative was only aimed at improving the provision of healthcare services, with a particular focus on addressing waiting times, staff shortages, availability of hospital beds, overcrowding, and the clearance of patient backlogs, particularly in the casualty departments.

“These support teams will work closely with their counterparts at provincial, district and facility level and will present reports to the provincial heads of department.”

Dr Keeka said the DA would be submitting urgent parliamentary questions to the health MEC in order to determine the time frame for the intervention.

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