Three hospitals with no doctors: Free State health department must be put under administration

A reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question, on vacancies in Free State hospitals, emphasises again the extent of the health crisis faced by the Free State health department.

Urgent steps are needed to save some of the lives that are being lost every day in this province because of hospitals operating at a fraction of their capacity, and we call on the national minister of health to meet with the provincial MEC to develop a plan of action.

The reply shows that there are three hospitals in the province (Embekweni District, Nala District and John Daniel Newsberry District) which do not have a single doctor. It is impossible to imagine how these hospitals manage to provide any health care at all, if there is no one to diagnose diseases or prescribe medication.

But it is not just these hospitals that are in trouble, and it is clear that almost every hospital in the province is in a dire situation:

• Overall, Free State hospitals have only half of the doctors and specialists that they should have, and 60% of the nurses they need.
• There is not a single hospital that has managed to fill all of its posts for doctors or for nurses.
• More than half (16 out of 31) of the provinces' hospitals have managed to fill only a third or less of the available doctors' posts.  

It is not clear from the reply whether posts are vacant because the hospital is unable to find candidates, or because the province is refusing to fund the posts. We will be asking further questions to determine this. Irrespective of the reason, however, this situation clearly cannot continue.

Statement issued by Mike Waters, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of health, September 30 2009

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