‘We can’t carry on with just one doctor for 32 patients at Addington Hospital’
Dr Noxolo Mbadi says doctors see 1‚500 outpatients each month, and they rely completely on sessional doctors for this ‘because we cannot staff it ourselves’
Dr Noxolo Mbadi cut an exhausted figure as she stood in the paediatric unit of Addington Hospital on Thursday, struggling to hold back tears as she laid bare the details of critical staff and equipment shortages at the public hospital."We need eight doctors to render services to the people. We simply do not have enough‚" Mbadi said."We have had only four medical officers since April … that is why two doctors are saying they have had enough and are going to resign. They are overwhelmed and they are exhausted."She was speaking to members of Parliament’s select committee on social services during an oversight visit to the hospital on Thursday. The committee was in KwaZulu-Natal this week to conduct oversight visits at various departmental projects and facilities.The visit to Addington‚ one of the largest government hospitals in Durban‚ comes amid an oncology crisis that‚ among other things‚ has resulted in machines at state hospitals not functioning because of a lack of maintenance and...
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