GroundUp reports that a large section of Fort Beaufort Provincial Hospital has been shut down by the Eastern Cape Department of Employment and Labour, which has deemed 13 wards to be a health hazard.
A hospital manager commented: “We are scared our hospital might be shut down … On 10 June the Department of Labour inspectors shut down 13 male wards in block 2 and deemed them a health hazard. Now the patients have been moved to block 5, which was used to admit Covid patients. Many wards, including the maternity ward, have leaking roofs because of the 13 December storm. In 2018 we were promised that our hospital would be rebuilt. Also, according to our organogram we should have ten groundsmen, but we only have two. Also we need 12 porters, but we only have two.” Another manager said: “I am worried that if the department does not urgently fix this hospital it is going to shut down and our people will be forced to go to Alice and to East London. This used to be one of the best hospitals … But since the democratic government took over, our hospital has become filthy and a place of negligence.” A former nurse at the hospital said: “Shortage of staff and linen has been a crisis for more than ten years there.” Yonela Dekeda, provincial health spokesperson, said the wards and not the whole hospital were issued with a probation notice in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. She outlined progress thus far with a 2018 master plan to fix the hospital, but added that the R350-million needed to a full refurbishment was not available. Staff shortages were “being addressed through the implementation of the current approved Annual Recruitment Process”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mkhuseli Sizani at GroundUp
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