The waiting list for wheelchairs in the Eastern Cape is 10 times longer than in any other province, causing tremendous suffering to 5 000 people and their families, and rising anger at the provincial Health Department for what they see as neglect.
Provincial Health Department spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said the increase in demand has not been met because of fiscal constraints – lawsuits worth R40bn have been filed against the department in the past decade for medical negligence – meaning patients “may wait longer to receive their wheelchairs”.
Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla had said 5 140 people in the Eastern Cape were waiting for wheelchairs. In other provinces, reports Daily Maverick, this number is lower: 181 in Gauteng, 166 in KwaZulu-Natal, 789 in Limpopo, 67 in Mpumalanga, 244 in North West and 166 in the Northern Cape.
Dedeka said that in the current financial year, a budget allocation of R16m had been made to address the situation.
“We have partnered with the Latter-day Saints charities to procure and supply wheelchairs.”
In the 2022/23 financial year, the charity donated wheelchairs worth R5m to the department, and these have been issued to patients around the province.
“In addition, the department has prioritised the repair and maintenance of wheelchairs to extend the lifespan of those issued to patients. This is expected to reduce the frequency of replacements, hence increasing the number of new beneficiaries issued with wheelchairs for the first time.”
One of those pleading for a wheelchair is 68-year-old Mamgema Mbangatha from the Gabazi locality near Qumbu. She has been unable to walk or stand since 2019 and lies on a mattress all day.
Mbangatha’s daughter, Nokuthula, believes a wheelchair will make life easier for her mother.
The family’s situation worsened a few weeks ago after the elderly woman’s Sassa grant card expired and Nokuthula had to carry her mother to Qumbu Post Office to renew it – where the scanner could not read her mother’s fingerprints.
“If my mother can get a wheelchair it will be better because she is sleeping day and night and she can’t even stand.”
Nokuthula said everyone is the family is unemployed and they all depend on her mother’s Sassa grant money.
A disabled woman in Gabazi said she sympathises with Mbangatha and occasionally lends her her wheelchair.
“I know exactly what she is going through. I know the pain those children are suffering. I was once in that situation without a wheelchair which is why I sometimes sacrifice,” she said.
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