Inept managers 'costing lives'

2009-11-24 21:06

Cape Town - The survival of HIV-positive South Africans should not be in the hands of incompetent or under-performing managers, a trio of health care organisations said on Tuesday.

The management of pharmaceutical systems in the public sector needed a "rapid overhaul", the SA HIV Clinicians Society, the SA Institute of Health Care Managers, and Aids Accountability International said in a statement.

The statement follows repeated "stock-outs" of antiretroviral and other drugs at some public health facilities.

"Patients are sent away empty-handed, month after month, yet the managers responsible for these failures are still in their positions," said clinicians' president Francois Venter.

The three organisations said South Africans should no longer tolerate management failures that cost lives.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi should extend his recently ordered audit of hospital managers to include the provincial and district health managers responsible for managing the antiretroviral drug system, the groups suggested.

His department should make it clear to all health care managers that drug stock outs and service interruptions were unacceptable, and required urgent remedies.
 

- SAPA