KZN legislature pays oversight visit to Port Shepstone Regional Hospital
The delegation appreciated a power point presentation which was tabled by the hospital CEO, Bawinile Ndlovu for its relevance and alignment to the provincial Covid-19 blueprint.
A KwaZulu-Natal Legislature delegation led by Celiwe Madlopha paid an oversight visit to Port Shepstone Regional Hospital recently, to ascertain whether the Department of Health is on track in terms of achieving Covid-19 phase two and three targets.
The delegation was accompanied by the mayor of Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, Cllr Nomusa Mqwebu, Ugu District Health officials and Jack Govender, the chief director for the Provincial Health Service Delivery Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate.
The delegation appreciated a power point presentation which was tabled by the hospital CEO, Bawinile Ndlovu for its relevance and alignment to the provincial Covid-19 blueprint.
“It is through the effective planning and implementation that citizens can finally enjoy the fruits of our democracy,” said Ms Madlopha.
The CEO highlighted an impressive report on the projects that they have achieved so far which included:
• Restructuring of hospital beds, with the second floor temporarily designated as a Covid-19 section in which all confirmed cases and critical care cases are managed
• Completion of repairs to the Internal Medicine Unit (27 bedded ward) and Eye Clinic which was damaged in a fire in 2017.
• Revamping of clinical teaching to accommodate the Gateway Clinic
• Revamping of the HAST Unit which is in progress, to accommodate the flu clinic
• Filling of critical posts
• Establishment of the Nursing Clinical Education and Training Unit
Of major concern to the team was a reduction in the numbers of citizens who came in for the second Covid-19 vaccine dose. A large number of people registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) self registration portal, however the vaccination uptake was relatively low.Nonetheless, when the delegation interviewed clients at the vaccination sites, a majority of them were happy with the services received.
While the delegation has noted various positive strides in relation to performance of the hospital, there remain areas of concern which included:
• Insufficient budget allocation for Covid-19 related expenditure
• Delays in procurement of IT equipment such as personal computers, laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi routers to support the vaccination programme
• Ageing plant, machinery and equipment including the generator.
• Limited space, land and building layout constraints.
A feedback session attended by the local hospital CEOs within the district enabled the team to discuss strategies to address the various challenges identified during the three-day oversight visit. The hospital management expressed its deepest gratitude to the KZN Legislature team for its continued support of its programmes.
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