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The Select Committee on Social Services is concerned by the high vacancy rate of medical professionals at the Addington Hospital in KwaZulu Natal. The high vacancy rate of medical professionals has a direct link and impact to the quality of healthcare services rendered to the people, a majority of whom are poor.

The vacancy rate of Medical Specialists at the hospital currently stands at 29% and the vacancy rate for Medical officer is at 28%. The Hospital further has a 38% vacancy rate of Head: Clinical Unit and a 14% professional nurse (Speciality) vacancy rate. 

These statistics are alarming in the context of the workload that the current staff complement have to carry. “The Committee reiterates its view that filling of vacancies within the health portfolio must be prioritised. It cannot be that the freezing of posts occurs even at hospital level because the issues dealt with at these institutions are matters of life and death,” said Ms Cathy Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Committee.

The knock on effect of the high vacancy rate at Addington Hospital has been that only 545 beds are utilised on the 571 bed hospital. Furthermore, the workload on the limited staff is abnormally high impacting on the service rendered. “While the Committee is in no way suggesting that poor quality of services at hospitals is acceptable, the underlying causes must be resolved,” Ms Dlamini emphasised. 

The Committee has also emphasised the need to decentralise and delegate to hospital level the appointment of medical personnel. This is intended to speed up the process to appoint critical personnel. While the Committee is cognisant to the funding challenges that the health department faces vis-à-vis the growing population, it remains of the view that it impractical for the appointment of medical personnel to be approved at provincial level.

It was reported to the committee that when posts become vacant they are not filled.  The committee has emphasised the need for the Premier and Provincial treasury not to frees posts that becomes vacant either due to retirement, death or resignation and to fast tract appointment of personnel.

Although skills shortage and funding is a general challenge across the country, the Committee is of the view that there seem not to be negligible remedial actions to remedy this challenge. The Committee has called on the Minister of Health and provincial MEC’s through the MINMEC forum to come up with workable solutions to the challenge of skills shortage and funding of healthcare.

Furthermore, it is concerning that Hospitals continue to face challenges in relations to lengthy supply chain processes which have a negative impact on services. In this regard, the Committee welcomes the increase in financial and SCM delegation to R500 000 in the province. The Committee welcomes the assurance by the MEC that there instituted a forensic investigation on the company that supplied oncology machines which is also implicated in other Provinces and they are waiting for the Hawks to take action. The Committee will monitor developments in this regard.  

The issue of ageing and inadequate infrastructure is also concerning because it impacts on the environment in which the sick are treated. “While it is a known fact that majority of hospitals are utilising aging infrastructure, detailed maintenance plans are necessary to increase the lifespan of the infrastructure,” Ms Dlamini said.

Meanwhile, the Committee raised its concerns that the presentation did not cover the South African Human Rights Commission report on the Oncology section of the Addington Hospital. While the MEC provided a written report and gave assurances that he will be available to answer questions by the Committee, there was a general feeling that the department missed an opportunity to bring the Committee into confidence on where the department was at in resolving challenges raised by the SAHRC.

The Committee has committed to engaging further on the oncology crisis in the province and has scheduled a site visit to Addington Hospital tomorrow to get first-hand information on progress in relations to interventions in resolving the crisis.

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Social Services, Cathy Dlamini