After the entire management team at Tshilidzini Hospital, Limpopo, was fired and replaced a month ago, the backlog of unclaimed bodies at the mortuary has been cleared, all broken windows and doors have been repaired, and the lengthy waiting time patients have been reduced, reports Health-e News.
The report says last month a furious Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba kicked out the entire management team for mismanaging the busiest and most overcrowded hospital in the Vhembe district.
On New Year’s Day, Ramathuba visited the hospital and spoke to patients waiting in long queues, who complained about poor service at the hospital. The MEC said the management’s incompetence failed surrounding communities and vowed to do something about it. She returned to the rural hospital a few weeks later with an intervention team to take over.
During a follow-up visit to the hospital last week, Ramathuba is quoted in the report as saying she was impressed by the progress since the new change. The acting spokesperson for the department Matome Mawasha said the MEC was happy because her decision to install the management team last month seems to be working. “We still have a long way to go but we are pleased with the ongoing progress,” said Mawasha.
Meanwhile, the report quotes Minister of Health Dr Arron Motsoaledi as saying that about R70m was needed to cover the cost for urgent renovations just to make hospital functional. The new management team wants the national Health Department to rebuild the dilapidated hospital and Motsoaledi said that would require more than R1.7bn to do.
[link url="https://www.health-e.org.za/2019/03/22/hospital-progress-praised/"]Health-e News report[/link]