KZN Health MEC vows to address Prince Mshiyeni Hospital issues during surprise visit
|Published
Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane promised to address hospital issues during her unannounced visit to the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in uMlazi, on Thursday.
Accompanying her was KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli, who said he roped in MEC Simelane to visit the hospital to practise their vow to build a capable, ethical and developmental state – and in order to do so, they have to visit their institutions to understand their needs and challenges.
The MEC said the purpose of the visit was to assess the challenges facing the institution, and not announcing their visit bears more fruit and allows them to understand the reality there, and that was when she noted that the nurses at the hospital were not in their full uniform.
Simelane said she knows that that might seem like a trivial issue, but it is part of a mandate that was set two years ago that nurses should wear white and maroon uniforms and that was why unannounced visits reveal the situation of the health workers and patients.
She further said that the hospital has the second-largest footprint in the country as they have seen more than 1 600 to 2 000 patients a day, and that those are the facilities that she and the premier decided to focus on, especially in the townships.
She also said her priorities are the biggest challenges that they faced, which included understaffing, and this was influenced by underfunding.
The MEC said that they have a number of proposals they are working on and they had a meeting with the premier who on their behalf will engage the finance minister and the Presidency.
She also said that they would also engage with the national Health Minister.
Simelane said in line with her budget vote speech in the legislature on Wednesday, the development of infrastructure – particularly the built environment – was essential for improving health-care service delivery, and this hospital was one of the hospitals that will benefit from this.
Premier Ntuli said during his visit he noted many positive things, such as a patient in one of the wards who commended the work of nurses in this hospital.
Provincial manager of the Public Servants Association, Mlungisi Ndlovu, said he was happy that the MEC had heeded their call and visited the institution, as their members have complained about safety, autocratic manager and the hospital being short-staffed.
Ndlovu said their members have raised many concerns at the hospital, from staff shortages, ill-treatment of management, and infrastructure issues as the hospital was one of the few hospitals with asbestos roofs.
Ndlovu pointed out that the hospital services a community of more than 800 000 people. He appealed to the department to investigate these issues because most of the staff have complained about them.
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