DA: Motsoaledi should be Limpopo patient
2012-07-19 21:22
Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance has challenged Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi to spend a day as a patient in a Limpopo hospital, the party said on Thursday.
"It is clear that critical hospital equipment shortages in Limpopo are endangering the lives of patients and infringing on their right to have access to health care services," said health spokesperson Patricia Kopane.
Motsoaledi should spend a day in the shoes of Limpopo hospital patients and doctors who did not have access to essential hospital equipment and take cognisance of the crisis, she said.
Kopane and Limpopo MPL Desiree van der Walt visited the Lebowakgomo Hospital in Chuenespoort and the Zebediela Hospital in Gompies on Thursday.
"We discovered that reports and whistle-blower information indicating that hospitals in Limpopo are experiencing widespread shortages of equipment were indeed the tip of an iceberg," said Kopane.
Lebowakgomo Hospital's two X-ray film processors apparently had not been in operation since November last year, while the X-ray machines had not been fixed since 2009 because the service provider was owed R70 000.
The hospital's three portable X-ray machines have apparently been inoperable since November.
No orthopaedic operations had taken place since last year as essential diagnostic equipment had been out of order since October.
The hospital's ICT had not had a working telephone for two years, said Kopane.
"At the Zebedelia Hospital we confirmed that newborn babies have to be bathed with cold water as a result of a faulty geyser, which has not been repaired since 2007."
Limpopo health department spokesman Phuti Seloba could not be reached for comment.
- SAPA
