Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize has expressed concerns over issues around funding, human resource and leadership in the Eastern Cape Health Department.
He also expressed satisfaction with the turnaround strategy of the Eastern Cape Health Department to improve the quality of health care services, but says there are still challenges the province needs to overcome of which stem from poor leadership.
Mkhize was in Gqeberha to assess the province’s state of readiness ahead of the mass vaccination rollout campaign.
The Minister has noted a number of challenges in the provincial Health Department and says it is now time to focus on the basics.
During his visit, Mkhize engaged with various senior officials and stakeholders of the health department. He has admitted that health services are generally underfunded and that a shift in the demographic of diseases and an increase in population calls for a review.
“There is a challenge of funding across the Eastern Cape and we have gone through that. There is also the issue of human resources, issues of weaknesses in leadership, management, and there are also issues that relate to the infrastructure and as a result, you are finding a lot of gaps. In the process of discussing it is clear that generally, health services are underfunded, they do need a lot of increase.”
Minister Mkhize briefs media after visiting Eastern Cape health facilities:
Nehawu protests over salary
Healthcare workers, affiliated with Nehawu, protested ahead of Mkhize’s visit. The union has expressed concerns over workers that have not yet gone back to work, following an extension of their contracts. They are also demanding a salary increase.
Addressing the workers, Regional Secretary, Sweetness Sitokwe, says their demands were being ignored.
“We are demanding these posts, the healthcare workers who have exploited; paid R3 500 without benefits we are demanding their permanence. This is a struggle we are not willing to give up comrades. We will not rest of Nehawu until we are paid our increment. It can’t be that everything else is increasing in the country but our salaries are not increasing,” says Sitokwe.
Eastern Cape Health MEC, Nomakhosazana Meth, maintains that contracts for the workers who stepped in during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic have been extended.
“We still maintain that those contract workers who are falling under EPW, their contracts were extended as from the first of April, even though there were some delays that made the others to start the following week. We still maintain that even those extended for three months their contracts are extended,” says Meth.
Mkhize has also applauded the work done in the Dora Nginza hospital, where he handed over a refurbished maternity ward. He says this stems from the solid partnerships the department has established.
