Health
DA reveals startling truth about acting CEOs in Gauteng public hospitals – Is your health service at risk?
According to Jack Bloom, the DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson, acting CEOs in public hospitals erode service. Nine provincial hospitals are without a permanent CEO, leaving the facilities to be run by acting CEOs. Per IOL, this lack of stable leadership has resulted in a decline in the quality and level of service to patients in these hospitals.
Bloom stressed that acting CEOs lack authority and initiative and are unlikely to root out vested interests. Furthermore, the CEOs in question were either suspended, or the provincial department had not filled the vacancy for some time, which compounds the issue. As a result, hospitals such as South Rand Hospital, Steve Biko Academic Hospital, and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital are affected.
The president of the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu), Rich Sicina, also spoke out on the issue, highlighting how the union had been challenging the provincial department for failing to employ permanent CEOs. Sicina expressed concern that having acting CEOs not only impacted the staff but also led to the inability of some hospitals to hire nurses.
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Bloom emphasised that having qualified and experienced people in these posts was crucial to ensuring that government hospitals were well-run and patients received the correct medical treatment. The recent report by the health ombud into the Rahima Moosa Hospital criticised poor processes in appointing hospital CEOs.
The Gauteng health department spokesperson, Motaletale Modiba, was expected to answer questions about filling these crucial posts in public hospitals. Meanwhile, Bloom urged the provincial department to act quickly and appoint competent and honest CEOs instead of relying on cadre deployments, whose incompetence has caused suffering to patients. Acting CEOs in public hospitals erode service, and the provincial government must address the situation immediately.
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Picture: Twitter / bandilemasuku
