Dire conditions at several state hospitals came under the spotlight this week with reports of heavily pregnant women being made to sleep on the floor at one, and food shortages and no hot water at another, among the complaints, writes MedicalBrief.
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital
At the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in Gauteng, there will be no running hot water for another week or longer while patients are served bread, cucumber and breakfast cereal instead of their usual more protein-rich meals, writes Chris Bateman for MedicalBrief.
The hot water shortage, which began three weeks ago, will continue well into next week as contractors replace corroded coils and await back orders for parts, the Gauteng Health Department said.
Doctors report bringing in food to help out and say some patients are refusing medication or requesting discharge because they are hungry. The department, however, said the issue was resolved by “last weekend.”
Doctors and patients said the historically dysfunctional laundry service was also failing to supply pillows or pillow slips. Just under a year ago, the same laundry service left patients shivering without blankets during a winter cold front.
Disgruntled and historically disillusioned hospital staff complain of a ‘complete lack of communication’ from management whom they say are aware of the situation. Nursing staff are using makeshift heated water buckets, whose incorrect installation or misuse can lead to electrical shocks or fires.
The dwindling supply of below-standard food is variously attributed to the hospital’s food supply company either having failed an audit or not being paid, and thus discontinuing services without replacement. The department declined to specify which.
One terse message from a patient reads, “Supper last night was brown bread and cucumber. This morning porridge. No sugar, no tea bags.”
What’s App messaging between doctors includes the following, “this is a crime and inhumane,” and “we are violating every rule of care possible. I hope that we can get official communication from our seniors and GDH. This is a violation and shall be reported to the human rights commission, Section 27, and also the Public Protector and Ombudsman.”
Since April 2021 when thieves set fire to a stock room undergoing an audit, destroying much of the hospital and forcing the decanting of patients, the hospital has remained in the headlines. Corruption and theft within the hospital was rife, including allegations of forged medical certificates, job selling, and falsification of records.
The lack of anaesthetists at the hospital already leads to regularly cancelled operations and lengthened waiting lists. Two cases of forged medical certificates, selling of jobs and falsification of records are just some of the 25 known corruption-related disciplinary cases that took place at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital over the past eight years.
DA health spokesman Jack Bloom called for the long-standing hospital CEO, Ms Gladys Bogoshi’s head. “She should have been fired long ago for continuing mismanagement. This hospital needs a top-class CEO to root out corruption and regain the trust of staff by fixing long-standing issues.”
He expressed concern that disciplinary cases took so long to be concluded, especially those involving procurement irregularities, some of which that date back to February and March 2020.
A spokesperson for the Gauteng Health Department, Motalatale Modiba, said the shortage of hot water supply began about three weeks ago as a result of corroded coils, “which are not off-the-shelf items and must be manufactured with a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks.”
The contractor was currently on site and installing for the first block ‘by this week.’
“The next block will start the following week as these cannot be done simultaneously, he added.
He confirmed a supply delay by their laundry service due to a machinery breakdown but said this ‘had no material effect, as the breakdown was fixed within a day.’
The supply of patient food delay began in mid-March this year, “but we managed with the contingency orders for in-house cooking until the issue was resolved over the weekend.”
Dora Nginza Hospital
A Bethelsdorp family is demanding answers and has blamed “neglect and ill treatment” after a mother’s traumatic delivery of a stillborn baby boy at Dora Nginza Hospital.
Robyn Minto has blamed the Eastern Cape hospital for her baby’s death last month, her tragedy coinciding with the emergence of a social media video of heavily pregnant women who spent three nights sleeping on the floor at the same facility, due to a bed shortage.
The Herald reports that the group of expectant mothers can be seen sleeping on small blankets in the hospital passage while others are seated on chairs, visibly in pain.
Thembakazi Tsengiwe, who posted the clip, pleaded for assistance, saying they had been on the cold floor for three days.
“Every day we are promised beds but there are no beds.”
Eastern Cape Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana said that on seeing the footage, Head of Department Rolene Wagner had intervened immediately with the CEO, clinical manager and nurse manager of the unit, and instructed them to ensure that every pregnant patient was placed in a bed.
Caesarean
Minto was, meanwhile, admitted to Dora Nginza on 22 April and scheduled for a Caesarean section the next day.
She said a doctor told her there was only one theatre available and they had a staff shortage.
This meant Minto would have to wait until her waters broke or she started bleeding before she could be considered for the procedure.
The pain began on the evening of 23 April but she claims nurses attributed it to Braxton Hicks.
Her sister, Cindy, said the pain had persisted for three days, and on 25 April, Minto started bleeding.
“She went to wake up the night shift staff, who were sleeping, but was (allegedly) told with attitude to go back to bed,” Cindy said.
“She lay in agony, waiting for assistance for almost an hour before one of the sisters came with the heart monitor to check on the baby.”
A doctor then arrived and told nurses to take Minto to the labour ward but apparently no medical staff arrived. After a while, she was taken to another room and placed on a bed.
She was allegedly left again for about 30 minutes until a nurse arrived and told her to start pushing. However, the baby would not come out and a doctor intervened.
“He assisted with a vacuum (extraction) to suction out the baby. But then my sister started struggling with her breathing.”
After numerous unsuccessful attempts, the doctor finally had her taken to theatre where she was sedated due to the blood loss and because she was too weak to keep pushing.
When Minto woke up after the ordeal and asked to see her baby, a nurse brought the infant covered in a white cloth, but allegedly, would not give him to her.
“My sister asked to hold her baby but the nurse refused and said the baby was dead. She was told her uterus had ruptured and that the baby had died.
Minto said that after the procedure, she was not given any pain medication and her wound was not treated.
Waiting for delivery
Wagner convened a special meeting last Friday, where she issued instructions to hospital management to get Ward C13 ready to admit patients, said Manana.
She also instructed them to review all patients to see who needed to be admitted, induced and undergo surgery.
Manana said Wagner would sign off on 10 additional doctors for Dora Nginza.
“In addition, we will use agency nurses to activate theatre capacity and the ward capacity at these critical units for immediate service while we follow the recruitment process to make the permanent appointments in the next two weeks.
“There will also be catch-up elective Caesareans to reduce the backlog in the facility.
“Currently, there are no expectant mothers on chairs or on the floor at the maternity ward.”
He did not respond to the questions sent about Minto’s stillborn baby.
Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital
An electricity supply switch-off at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital on Monday was blamed by Gauteng Health on a “payment delay due to the transition to the new financial year”.
The City of Tshwane restored the power after a commitment by the Gauteng Health Department to settle its R1.2m electricity debt for March and April.
The department insisted that the hospital’s backup power system was fully operational and that patient care continued uninterrupted.
The disconnection, which was part of the city’s ongoing Tshwane Ya Tima campaign, was aimed at addressing the persistent issue of non-paying customers and improving revenue collection.
Health department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said the processing of the R1.2m owed for March and April was already under way when the metro “implemented credit control measures and disconnected the power” on Monday, reports TimesLIVE.
“The hospital normally makes additional payments to ensure continuous electricity supply, but this time it could not do so. The owed amount is being processed for payment. On Monday, the department processed R3.8m to the city (for) other facilities in Tshwane.”
He said the money was already scheduled for payment, as part of the payment run to various service providers.
Modiba added that Weskoppies had back-up power via five generators and a solar system, and that patient care “will continue uninterrupted”.
But Bloom said these are insufficient to fully power the hospital. As a result, many patients were been left in the dark, he added, with only cold water available, while meals were being served cold, “and this should have been avoided by mature engagement between the department and the metro, instead of patients being the victims of inefficiency”.
ActionSA said the root cause of the crisis at Weskoppies – and other public institutions – lay with higher levels of government, specifically the provincial Department of Health, which had consistently failed to pay its municipal bills consistently, reports IOL.
“The truth is that national and provincial government departments are the greatest debtors of the City of Tshwane, owing more than R1.5bn in unpaid municipal accounts,” the party noted.
Uitenhage Provincial Hospital
Staff shortages, lack of resources, laundry issues and ongoing union squabbles led to Uitenhage Provincial Hospital staff downing tools on Monday, and demanding intervention from the Eastern Cape Department of Health.
At least two nurses said that unsafe working conditions and chronic understaffing at the hospital were putting patients’ lives at risk.
Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana told The Herald that the strike, which was peaceful, was illegal, and issued apologies on behalf of the department “for the temporary disruption in some areas of the hospital”.
“There is no excuse for unprotected action as we are all here to serve our patients first.
“Many of our staff come from the surrounding communities and it is counterintuitive, not to mention unlawful, to interrupt an essential service.”
He said the department had platforms through which to raise issues of mutual concern.
“The chief executive (of the hospital) has addressed the workers whose concerns are related to their staff shortages,” he added.
“The head office will be reviewing the incident report and will support the facility to ensure continuity of care, even as we peruse the concerns of the workers.”
TimesLIVE – Power cut at Weskoppies Hospital over municipal debt due to financial year change – health department
IOL – ActionSA supports Mayor Moya's intervention on Weskoppies Psychiatric Facility power disconnection
The Herald article – Dora Nginza under scrutiny over mom’s devastating loss (Restricted access)
THe Herald – Protest at Kariega hospital over working conditions and understaffing
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Dora Nginza Hospital infested by rats
Maternity unit strike at Dora Nginza Hospital, Eastern Cape, ends
Government inaction puts Eastern Cape children's lives at risk