LETTER: SA has a health crisis on its hands

Listening to Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi telling us in his state of the province address that the president will sign the NHI bill into law, and also that the government will buy 18 private hospitals, I realised saying we are in crisis is an understatement (“Panyaza Lesufi says e-tolls will soon be history”, February 20).

We are faced with a government that does not know whether it is a democracy or a dictatorship. Since starting to fight apartheid the ANC has never recovered from that habit. It is determined to fight anything that is not in agreement with its ideology.

Right now, every aspect of healthcare is being shattered, and it will take an arm and a limb to restore it. Lesufi’s statement about the government buying 18 private hospitals does not deserve comment. It is the premier’s equivalent of the president’s smart cities. In the real world, we have to be practical if we want to succeed.

SA has a health crisis on its hands. Who would have thought there would come a day when young doctors would go out and toyi-toyi in protest against nonemployment, with the health minister admitting there is no money to employ them and actually encouraging them to emigrate? Our health facilities are suffering because of acute shortage of doctors and other health professionals.

The saddest thing is that our leaders are clueless when it comes to the complexities and demands of healthcare. We can only hope that the general election’s outcome will provide the answers this country needs. God have mercy on us.

Cometh Dube-Makholwa
Midrand

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