DA: Some hospital CEOs have only matric

2011-08-10 22:49

Cape Town - Some public hospitals CEOs have only a matric certificate, while less than three-quarters of them have a health qualification as their highest qualification, according to a report obtained by the DA.

"The Democratic Alliance has in its possession a report on the assessment of top management at public hospitals in South Africa, which was compiled by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)," DA health spokesperson Mike Waters said in a statement on Wednesday.

Commissioned by the health department, and covering all nine provinces, it contained some "disturbing" information.

"The report does provide small snippets of insight into the level of competency of CEOs in that two percent of [them] have only matric as their highest qualification, and only 73% have a health qualification as their highest qualification."

Waters criticised the report for not making any "objective assessment of the competency and capability" of public hospital CEOs.

Shocking quality

"[It] gives the impression that the national department of health would prefer to bury its head in the sand rather than face up to the shocking quality of hospital management in the public sector," he said.

That the department had to commission the DBSA to compile the report was proof of how out of touch it was with the problems facing hospitals and clinics.

"The DA will be submitting questions to... minister of health [Aaron Motsoaledi] to find out why this report contains so little detail and how much it cost to commission.

"In addition, the DA will submit questions to obtain crucial information that this report appears to be missing."

Waters said the day-to-day functioning of public hospitals and clinics clearly showed what the report did not effectively address.

"That is, the management of hospitals is sub-standard, and that CEOs are clearly incapable of performing the task at hand; as a result, the patients suffer," he said.

- SAPA