DA calls for public health inquiry
The party has asked Cyril Ramaphosa to set up a judicial commission to get to the bottom of challenges crippling the country’s system
The DA has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a judicial commission of inquiry into the state of public healthcare, after its random survey of hospitals and clinics revealed significant gaps in patient care. Chronic understaffing, equipment shortages and long waiting times characterised many of the facilities the DA visited. Its observations tally with the problems highlighted by provincial health MECs in presentations to Parliament this week, which revealed that even the tightly managed Western Cape health department was struggling to cope with demand. “Public health facilities are no longer places of healing. They have become death traps for the poor, who have no other options available to them,” said DA spokeswoman Refiloe Nt’sekhe. “While inspecting the RK Khan Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, we learnt that waiting times for CT [computed tomography] scans are three months, while the next available mammogram appointment is in 2019.” Emergency medical personnel in Mpumala...
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