The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) says Gauteng hospitals deemed non-compliant with the country’s health and safety legislation can be attributed to administrative instability and corruption.
The Gauteng Health Department tabled its third quarterly report in the provincial legislature this week, saying none of the hospitals were compliant with all 23 regulations in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Denosa Gauteng Chairperson Simphiwe Gada says: “There is the issue of administrative instability. We have not had, for instance, in the last years a HOD that would be able to come in and say these are my plans and vision and that HOD actually be allowed to serve the full term of their contract.”
“Also, there is an issue of corruption when it comes to procurement because people go for shady companies. The HOD and MEC – we have not had those who can track the progress that they make. When you are stabilising the department, you find that after a year or two they bring in a new HOD. This is also, to us, attributed to the corruption that is plaguing the Department of Health,” adds Gada.
State of Gauteng hospitals
In 2019, another provincial health legislature meeting revealed that infrastructure in some of Gauteng’s public hospitals is in such disrepair expensive renovations to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act would be needed.
The then Gauteng MEC for Health Dr Bandile Masuku visited Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal following reports that the hospital had been without water for weeks.
Masuku provided more details on his visit and the meeting in the interview below:
