The South African National Aids Council’s Youth Sector says the proposed merger of St. Francis and Nkonjeni hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal by the provincial government will be a disaster in the health sector.
The two hospitals are in the Mahlabathini area north of Ulundi.
Youth Sector spokesperson Nkosinathi Mpungose says if the provincial Department of Health continues with its rationalisation, the number of HIV positive people is expected to increase in areas currently serviced by the St. Francis hospital.
He says patients will default on taking their medication. The closure of the hospital prompted residents to demonstrate and barricade roads with burning tyres.
“Young people are likely to be affected when it comes to HIV, teenage pregnancy, because of the lack of our facilities in our communities, the lack of basic services that we need in those small communities. People that are chronic will now have to suffer and spend more money to actually manage to reach wherever they will be transferred to. People will default their medication. More people will get sick and die and will force the state to cough more funds to follow and tracing of patients back to the system,” says Mpungose.
