The DA has expressed its concern about the lack of effective leadership in the Gauteng Department of Health as COVID-19 cases shoot up in the province, sparking fears of a fifth wave of infections.
Last month, Jack Bloom, DA MPL and spokesperson for health in Gauteng, said the acting head of the department, Dr Sibongile Zungu, had left for undisclosed reasons and her post remained unfilled. Bloom also raised concerns that the department had not had a permanent head since Professor Mkhululi Lukhele resigned in October 2020.
He was implicated in the misspending of personal protective equipment funds, reports The Citizen.
“Other senior posts, including a chief financial officer, are still filled by acting personnel,” Bloom said. Gauteng’s COVID cases were cause for concern and staff shortages were the main problem in treating COVID patients at public hospitals.
Bloom accused Gauteng Premier David Makhura of “failing badly” in not appointing competent and honest top managers to fix the crisis in hospitals. “The scandal is that many of the newly-built wards for COVID patients are empty because they have no staff or equipment,” he added.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Gauteng’s ‘new’ R1.2bn COVID ICU hospitals lie abandoned and unfinished
Loss of 4,000 COVID posts a body blow to already stretched Gauteng hospitals
Dysfunctional provincial health departments make a mockery of the ‘capable state’