Hotline for patients to expose poor treatment and shoddy hospitals, clinics
Patients will soon be able to report negligence‚ long queues and shoddy hospital and clinic facilities to the health police. The office of health safety compliance will launch its complaints management call centre on Monday to record and investigate complaints properly. Through this centre, the watchdog body would be able to protect and promote the health and safety of health service users and vulnerable people exercising their right to healthcare, said spokesman Ricardo Mahlakanya. He said a team would be ensure calls were not missed. Mahlakanya said this hotline was an independent platform compared to provincial hotlines manned by their various departments of health and that they had the power to assess the merit of the complaint received and decide on appropriate action. In April‚ the body released damning findings on the state of clinics and hospitals. It found that many did not meet even the most basic healthcare standards. From 2012 to March 2016, the body conducted 1‚887 insp...
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