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Mpuma hospitals 'not coping'
31/01/2008 08:37 - (SA)
Sydney Masinga
Nelspruit - After-hour emergency services have been cut at three hospitals in Mpumalanga due to a shortage of doctors.
The Bethal, Standerton and Secunda hospitals are no longer offering emergency assistance after hours.
"We are also concerned to hear that Rob Ferreira hospital in Nelspruit, which is classified as a provincial and a referral hospital, has closed its maternity ward and has not admitted new patients after hours since January 25," said spokesperson for the South African Medical Association (Sama) Adrian van Eeden on Wednesday.
Van Eeden said patient care was being further compromised because medical interns were working without supervision because of the shortage of medical staff.
He said the provincial health department indicated they would only have a budget to pay doctors overtime when the new financial year starts on April 1.
Relieving the burden
Van Eeden said Sama was willing to meet with the department again to urgently discuss the issue. He said the department should also engage urgently with medical officers in its hospitals to ensure the continuity of patient care.
Provincial health spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said the department had made sure that ambulances and patient transport were still available at the affected hospitals to ferry patients to referral hospitals like Themba hospital in KaBokweni, Ermelo hospital in Ermelo, Mapulaneng hospital in Bushbuckridge, Witbank hospital in Emalahleni and Rob Ferreira hospital in Nelspruit.
"We have adequately taken care of the need to protect patient care all the time," said Gabashane.
He said referral hospitals would be strengthened to take the burden off smaller hospitals.
He denied that the maternity ward at Rob Ferreira hospital had been closed.
He said the maternity ward continued to operate during office hours, and that any patients who arrived after hours were referred to Themba hospital.
"In the medium and long term, we have doubled the number of bursaries we are awarding to the medical students in the province. We currently have about 30 students studying medicine in Cuba and over 500 studying locally," Gabashane said.
He said the department was scheduled to receive 18 doctors from Tunisia in February.
Mpumalanga has less than 700 public doctors, but needs 9 000 overall to properly service the region.
- African Eye
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