EFF NOTES THE APPOINTMENT OF HEALTHCARE SPECIALISTS BY LIMPOPO
HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Saturday, 07 January 2023.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Limpopo notes the appointment of 170
clinicians, 1123 interns and community service healthcare professionals, mostly
medical doctors, by the Limpopo Department of Health.
The appointment was imminent given the low vacancy rate in Limpopo public
health facilities, but of great concern is that the appointment of professional
nurses has been overlooked, despite nursing in the province being in a deep
crisis.
We note with disgust the delay in the appointment of professional nurses, as
their appointment is expected to take off in February 2023. Nurses provide the
most urgent, basic and essential healthcare and should have been prioritized to
fill the vacancies immediately.
Furthermore, we are dismayed by the fact that the Limpopo Nursing College will
after three (3) consecutive years of failing to enroll nurses for training, recruit
less than 200 students in the 2023 academic year due to the department’s
financial constraints and mismanagement. The intake is just a drop in the ocean.
Worse off, the Sekhukhune and Waterberg nursing college campuses will not
enroll any students for nursing Diploma this year, further deepening the
shortage of nurses. Once again, this points out to a leadership vacuum in the
department led by Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba who continues to preside
over a failing healthcare system with no prospects of turning things around.
Clinics are unable to operate for 24 hours under her leadership, due to severe
shortages of nurses while systemic looting of resources that were supposed to
improve healthcare services is on the rise.
It is disturbing that the department is relying on retired nurses instead of
ensuring that young nurses are properly trained in their jobs so that they can
acquire knowledge and master all the necessary skills to take over from nurses
who have retired from the profession.
The department’s neglect and poor planning for the future, around skills
development and enhancing training colleges will have serious negative
consequences for the healthcare system and ultimately deny the residents of
Limpopo access to healthcare services. The shortage of medication in 400
primary healthcare facilities across the province is another challenge
endangering human life.
The EFF calls for more nurses to be appointed because the available nurses are
already overstretched, exhausted and frustrated as a result of an overwhelmed
health system in the province.
Lastly, the department must abolish the tender system used to procure
pharmaceuticals in hospitals and clinics in order to avert wasteful and irregular
expenditure, which compromise the supply of medical products
