Claims, dating from 2015, for alleged medical negligence by the Limpopo Department of Health currently amount to R14 billion, while the Department’s total budget for the 2022/23 financial year amounts to R22,7 billion.
This is a clear indication of the health care system in Limpopo’s dire situation, which is already under the microscope of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
The decline of health care in this province means that hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people, who are entirely dependent on good public health care, are being let down.
The FF Plus has been warning the Health Department and its current as well as former MECs about its personnel’s incompetence, poor attitude and lack of skills for many years.
To make matters worse, there is a lack of good doctors, the equipment is outdated and the maintenance of ambulances leaves much to be desired. In many cases, there is no health service to speak of.
Thus, the FF Plus is of the opinion that the ongoing investigation by the SIU into, among other things, contracting for the removal, treatment, transport, collection and disposal of hazardous medical waste must be expanded to include the entire Department of Health.
It is time to clean Limpopo’s entire Department of Health from top to bottom, and to appoint competent officials who are determined to provide the best possible health care to residents.
The FF Plus has been fighting against the decline of public health care in Limpopo for the past twelve years and will continue to do so until all corruption and mismanagement are eradicated from the Department.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Marcelle Maritz on FF Plus
