Shake-up looms for hospital managers
2011-08-04 21:04
Pretoria - New regulations will soon be implemented to correct anomalies related to skills levels and competencies of managers in public hospitals, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Thursday.
"From now onwards our hospitals will be managed by appropriately qualified and competent managers at an appropriate designation," he told journalists in Pretoria.
He said hospitals were not designated in accordance with uniform norms and standards, as was the practice internationally, and this caused confusion.
There was also confusion about what a particular hospital CEO may or may not do.
"In some instances you find that a hospital is managed by a person who is in fact at a clerical level.
"If we have to successfully implement the National Health Insurance and provide good quality services, we need to correct these anomalies," he said.
Motsoaledi was speaking after a meeting of the National Health Council, which he chairs. The meeting was attended by MECs from all provinces.
He said the regulations would provide that no hospital be managed at a level below that of a director general in the public service.
"They will ensure that people who are appointed to manage public hospitals are suitably qualified for the job and are equitably remunerated as defined by the relevant hospital level," he said.
They would empower CEOs of public hospitals to run their institutions and rationalise operations so that quality, human resources and other standards could be uniformly applied across the country.
The regulations also proposed to divide public hospitals into district, regional, tertiary, central and specialised categories.
Motsoaledi said they would be gazetted next week for public comment.
