Bheki Mlangeni hospital still facing critical staff and bed shortages

The Bheki Mlangeni district hospital in Soweto is still facing critical staff and bed shortages which impacts service delivery.

Since it was opened in 2014, the 300 bed medical health facility has been limping from crisis to crisis.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura named it as one of the five worst performing hospitals in the province during his State of the Province Address.

The South African Human Rights Commission has been conducting oversight visits to various health care facilities in Gauteng to check up on the state of service delivery and Tuesday night it was the turn of Bheki Mlangeni district hospital in Soweto.

Makhura says, “There are still critical shortages of human resources and this affects waiting times, staff attitude and there’s also shortage of beds.”

The Commission’s Buang Jones says they’ll engage with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a fully-funded turnaround plan is put in place to arrest these challenges.

“The system at the moment is distressed and our healthcare standards are slipping further.”

He says they will continue to engage until a solution is found.