A social media video showing Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba berating senior managers at Rethabile Clinic in Polokwane for sitting idle while patients wait in long queues has received mixed reaction from the public, some calling her “intrusive” and "harsh", while others praise her for cracking the whip.
Ramathuba slammed one manager for going on lunch during a “disaster” at the clinic, and said that as a supervisor, the position required staff to be hard at work during a crisis, reports TimesLIVE.
“When there is a disaster, I can’t go on leave,” she fumed. “When there is a disaster with Eskom, the President cancelled (his trip to the) World Economic Forum. You can’t be the first to go on lunch when there is a disaster and leave the junior staff. You should be here and coming up with a way to resolve this matter.”
The MEC said she refused to apologise for being firm, and that service delivery should be prioritised at all times.
“South Africans must forgive me if I might at times lose my cool, but I don’t believe that is how I am. I’m firm and there is a difference between being angry, attacking or being unprofessional.
“These poor patients who can’t afford healthcare come to the clinic, which is their only hope … the patients we treat in public facilities have no alternatives. If they did, they would not think twice about not visiting us.”
Ramathuba had not announced her visit to the clinic, which came after she had received complaints about patients being sent away because they were not wearing masks. She said she was also alerted about long waiting times at the facility.
“All I am trying to do is to make sure I fix our health system,” Ramathuba said.
The MEC added that she could not pretend to be satisfied if she arrived to witness a chaotic situation at a clinic.
“They do not have a help desk. There was no one directing patients where to go. I found some patients had been at the clinic for more than five hours and had received no help at all. How do you explain a pregnant woman being in a queue from 7am until 2pm and she has not been assisted at all?
“These are some of the conditions patients are being subjected to, and you find a supervisor having gone to lunch and seeing no problem at all. How do you go on lunch in the midst of such a crisis?”
She said what happened at Rethabile Clinic was not unique as she regularly pays unannounced visits to health facilities in the province, something she said she would continue to do.
“When I go like that, that is when I get a true reflection of what our patients face at our facilities. If you announce you are coming, they will prepare and you will find everything staged and in order.”
Ramathuba said sometimes she visited facilities after receiving complaints, and sometimes she dropped in unannounced according to her own monitoring card.
“The complaints we receive are usually the same and when I arrive I know what to look at, starting with the attitude of the security personnel. I felt like addressing our security to understand what their role is at facilities. It is not their job to refuse patients entry, which is what I found them doing at this facility (Rethabile Clinic),” she said.
Ramathuba said she won't be put off from making unannounced inspections.
“If you sit in the office and rely on reports you get from management, they know how to put in beautiful, colourful graphs that are nicely designed. They will tell you all is well, people are being serviced. They will even tell you the waiting time is 45 minutes but that is not the case. When they give you their patient surveys, they cook all the results.
“When you do the rounds yourself and they say the X-ray machine is functional, you must find it functional. If it is not functional, managers must be held to account.
“I believe in unannounced visits. It's not that I don't trust the staff, it is about the nature of a human being. When you ask, they will always give you a beautiful report.”
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