Pretoria – Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said the influx of foreign nationals using SA hospitals has added to the burden on the country’s health system.
He said the public healthcare system was already suffering from low staff numbers, inadequate budgetary allocations, maladministration and wide-scale corruption.
“We are saying, our Constitution is very clear in terms of the mandate of the state to provide health services to people who are in our country.
“We do accept that our services are under pressure and that if this demand for services (by) our neighbours keeps on increasing, it will reach a stage where it is not sustainable.”
Phaahla spoke to journalists at the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.
“We believe that it is not up to ordinary citizens to think that they can deal with that; to help the state. No. That is not the correct approach.”
He said there were “many other challenges” bedevilling the health institutions across South Africa.
“There are many other challenges we must deal with to improve the quality of service. We acknowledge that even without the pressure of neighbours, we do have challenges in terms of allocation of funds.
“There has been a reduction… we are not able to provide enough staff; they were telling me here about the staff shortages. We are discussing with our colleagues in the National Treasury to look at further improvement in the staffing,” he said.
“I am quite certain that there is also the issue of poor management, (but) I do not think is an issue at this hospital. I must credit the CEO and the team here. In some of our facilities there is also poor management.
“In some areas there is maladministration. There are reports about some of our facilities here in Gauteng and also in other provinces where there is poor maladministration of the few resources. There are also cases of corruption which are being investigated,” said Phaahla.
He said President Cyril Ramaphosa had signed several Special Investigating Unit proclamations for a number of health facilities to be investigated.
“We admit that that there are these kinds of challenges. This issue of the additional pressure of high demand, including not only South Africans, but (also) our neighbours who add onto that. We are appealing to everyone that this is an issue we are alive to,” he said.
“This issue has been discussed in a number of forums. From our governing party, the ANC, there has been suggestions from committees suggesting that the issue of pressure of additional from neighbours… we must find ways, including contributions for some of these services by the governments of the neighbouring countries,” he said.
Public Order police officers had to intervene several times to quell confrontations between members of Operation Dudula and the Economic Freedom Fighters at the hospital’s main entrance.
For weeks, Operation Dudula members have been camped at the Pretoria hospital, vetting people walking into the facility, and blocking foreign nationals from entering.
On Tuesday, the EFF in Gauteng said it was mobilising its members to “defend” Kalafong. Physical confrontations were reported from the hospital’s main entrance during the day.
EFF acting Gauteng provincial chairperson, Itani Edwin Mukwevho, questioned why police have not arrested or dispersed Dudula members, despite an interdict obtained by the health authorities against the people blocking the hospital entrance, and vetting patients.
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