The Gauteng Health Department has promised to deal with those involved in turning away patients from its healthcare facilities and to re-train all front-line staff on proper customer care. "The right of women and children to emergency medical care is specifically guaranteed by our constitution. No security guard has a right to take it away," Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is quoted in a Polity report as saying.
The visit was prompted by public complaints after the deaths of two children who were allegedly denied medical assistance at a facility by security guards. Other parents reported that they were also forced to seek alternative help for their visibly injured children after guards claimed there were no doctors on duty and that the facility was too full to allow them inside.
At a meeting with the facility management team, the MEC emphasised and reminded managers that "security guards have no business in patient care". "We gave them a month to correct the situation and bring it back to normality. We also send the Gauteng government's deep felt condolences to the bereaved families on their loss," added MEC Mahlangu.
[link url="http://www.polity.org.za/article/gauteng-gauteng-health-on-re-training-of-all-frontline-staff-at-healthcare-facilities-2015-02-19"]Full Polity report[/link]