Understaffed Mthatha hospital 'cannot function'
Donwald Pressly - Mail & Guardian
2006-07-12
The Mthatha General hospital, which serves 2,5-million people in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape, has a 32% vacancy rate among doctors and a 39% vacancy rate among pharmacists, according to figures released by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Monday.
This emerged in reply to a question from outgoing official
opposition health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
There are currently 72 vacancies for doctors -- up from 53
a year ago -- out of 226 posts. There are 91 nursing posts vacant -- up from 75
a year ago -- out of a total of 597 posts. These translate into a vacancy rate
of 15%.
Kohler-Barnard pointed out that there have been 348
resignations by nurses in the past three years, while 75 posts have been vacant
for more than a year.
Asked how many community-service doctors were in place at
the hospital in the past three years, the minister said there had been 12 in
2005, 13 in 2004 and 10 in 2003.
Resignations from the hospital reached a peak in 2004 when
54 doctors resigned -- up from eight the previous year -- before dropping to six
in 2005. In 2004, 166 nurses resigned, up from 97 the previous year. This
dropped to 85 in 2005. In addition, five specialists resigned in 2004, of 36
specialist posts at the institution.
Tshabalala-Msimang, who reported that there had been 23 745
patients attended to at the hospital in the past three years, noted that a new
CEO was appointed to the hospital in December last year.
The absenteeism rate also rose in 2004 with a 4% rate among
doctors, an 8% rate among nurses, a 5% rate among dentists and pharmacists and a
5% rate among specialists. This compared with 3% for doctors in 2003, 8% for
nurses in that year, 3% for dentists and 4% for pharmacists and specialists in
2003.
Kohler-Barnard, who is being shifted from shadow health
minister to safety and security, said that from the information provided by the
minister it is "quite clear" that the hospital is badly understaffed
and under-resourced.
"Apart from the consistently high number of vacancies
in each of the categories, the dramatic number of resignations among nurses
stands out as a key problem.
"Quite simply, the hospital cannot function properly
with the sort of shortages it currently faces," said Kohler-Barnard.
She said she had on Monday written to
Eastern Cape
health minister Nomsa Jajula and the CEO of the hospital to present "these
facts to them" and to enquire about steps the provincial department is
putting in place to deal with the matter. --
I-Net
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