Cape Town - The Khayelitsha District Hospital is one of the hospitals in the metro that the Standing Committee on Health would conduct a physical oversight visit to on Wednesday.
Seven months after the ANC in the legislature had asked for this oversight visit, the committee would now assess progress made at the hospital after initial engagements with its management in February.
The visit also follows recent social media posts that again emerged of patients sleeping on the floor and chairs. This resulted in more people sharing their horrible personal experiences about the hospital.
DA Western Cape spokesperson on Health and Portfolio chairperson Wendy Kaizer-Philander said one of the main contributors to the pressures on capacity in the hospital (KDH) was the large community it served.
“As the legislature, we take our oversight function very seriously and will never politicise the role we play in society. We, therefore, have to acknowledge the factors contributing to these pressures and what the department can achieve within the current fiscal climate.
“A multi-sectoral approach is thus required to help alleviate the strain on facilities and the system as a whole,” she said.
During engagements with the hospital’s management in February, Kaizer Philander said they were able to confirm that the number of specialists had more than doubled from the initial number when the hospital was opened. She said additional agency staff were used to assist with services in demand as well as general additions to its current infrastructure.
She said next year, a 30-bed extension unit was planned to be completed for its psychiatry ward, which would significantly relieve the pressures it currently faces.
ANC provincial health spokesperson Rachel Windvogel confirmed that numerous hospitals in the metro would be part of the oversight visit.
“We may not announce the names of these facilities for now, but we know who the problematic hospitals are in the metro at the present moment. We will attend the visits to push the provincial government to put measures in place to address the persistent challenge of people sleeping on the floors in our district hospitals,” she said.
Windvogel said the biggest challenge in these hospitals was the shortage of staff and bed capacity.
“The government knows how much it has to pay for these challenges to be addressed,” she said.