Lack of Security and Electricity Compromises Staff and Patient Safety at Gauteng Health Facility

ActionSA has noted, with grave concern, the poor security situation at the Lillian Ngoyi Community Healthcare Centre, a Provincial Government facility, in Soweto which has seemingly contributed to a doctor being violently assaulted by a patient last Thursday night.

ActionSA is aware that after the doctor was brutally assaulted, the doctor has since not returned to work. The facility is said to have very little security, with no service provider currently being contract to render such services at the facility. This is unacceptable as it exposes staff, patients and live-saving equipment to avoidable risk of harm, theft and/ or vandalism and these all occasion grave emotional and financial costs.

We are informed that since Monday the16^th April 2022, the power has been off at the facility for extended periods of time – up to 24 hours at a time. We understand that, apart from the obvious issue of power outages occasioned due to the rolling blackouts bedevilling the country due to Eskom’s poor performance, the facility’s generator has died. Compounding this is the fact that apparently there is no set, alternatively communicated, plan on when it will be fixed so the issue is finally resolved.

Today I have written to the Gauteng MEC for Health, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi to raise these issues with her, for her to ensure the department urgently addresses them.

In my letter, I have reminded the MEC that the department carries a positive obligation to ensure that the staff who work at all its facilities do so in an environment that is safe, free from so much as the threat of harm, wherein they can serve the people of Gauteng to the best of their ability.

The department’s apparent failure to provide such an environment risks the lives of employees and patients alike as well as places the department in legal jeopardy.

As the Political Principal responsible for Health in the province, it is the MEC’s responsibility to ensure that department carries out its responsibilities, both to patients and staff, properly. I have asked the MEC to take the public into her confidence as regarding;

1. The extent to which she is aware of these issues;
2. What plan(s), if any, exist to finally resolve the issues I have raised;
3. What counselling support, if any, the department is providing to the affected doctor and the rest of the staff;
4. If a security service provider is currently has been appointed, or is in the process of being appointed, then how far along is the SCM process, and lastly;
5. What plans, if any, exist to ensure the broken backup generator is fixed.

As Provincial Chairperson of a party of government in the three Gauteng Metros, and a growing presence elsewhere in the country, I cannot ignore serious issues brought to my attention by our communities. I have a responsibility to ensure that government is held to account for failing to do its work properly.

ActionSA has a responsibility to ensure that even the department lives up to its own goals providing quality health services as well as creating a positive work environment for staff and providing appropriate and top-quality training for health workers.

One of ActionSA’s own priorities is the delivery of caring and inclusive governments which provide quality basic services and healthcare in all government and that cater to all their residents.

I have thus given the MEC one week to deliver a comprehensive response to my letter – effectively until 01 June 2022 – whereafter we will consider her response (if any) and take the appropriate action.