Cape Town – The healthcare system in South Africa has never been perfect and when Covid-19 hit, it crippled our healthcare systems even more.
This was the consensus of experts and those working in South Africa’s hospitals in response to questions on the Western Cape’s hospitals by IOL.
The Western Cape is said have the country’s ‘most efficient’ health-care system but according to ANC’s Rachel Windvogel the state of health in the province is fast deteriorating and “nearing collapse”.
She said among the major challenges facing hospitals is the dilapidated infrastructure in hospitals such as Groote Schuur and Tygerberg Hospitals.
“A number of key infrastructure projects are behind schedule and as a result, there are sections that are cordoned off and not functioning.
“This has a bearing on the functioning of other hospitals, especially in poor working-class communities due to increased service pressure due to bed occupation by patients who should not have been transferred to these hospitals,” Windvogel said.
She said service pressure across all district hospitals have become unbearable resulting in patients sleeping in chairs or on the floor.
“The Khayelitsha District Hospital is a prime example of this,” Windvogel said.
“The hospital management requested an additional R150 million to address critical staff and bed shortages and infrastructure needs, yet no additional funding was allocated by the provincial government.
“What this means is that patients will continue to sleep on the floor whilst the DA government just does not care,” Windvogel explained.
She said while the provincial government brags about offering the best public health care, the reality on the ground is a collapsing health-care system.
She said evidence of this is visible in rural communities where people wait days for an ambulance to transfer them to bigger hospitals in the city.
Windvogel also made the example of doctors only visiting rural clinics in rural areas to issue prescriptions without examining patients.
“Billions are spent annually on putting band-aid over a gaping wound. The money being spent is not addressing the real challenges. A good example is the huge amount spent on agency personnel when that money could rather be spent on recruiting permanent staff members,” she said.
Speaking to IOL, on the condition of anonymity, a nurse at a local government hospital said while they try their best to deliver a service to residents there is so much lacking in the sector.
“I have been a nurse for 15+ years and the nurses passing through this hospital seem to get worse every time.
“I work in the emergency unit, a fast pace environment where thinking on your feet is the order of the day.
“As nurses, we are inundated with work but we manage, however, as an experienced nurse seeing how the ‘latest intakes’ have no feeling towards patients is sad.
“People have died because of incorrect triages, nurses not knowing how to speak to people and in turn pissing off the very community we took an oath to serve,” she said.
While she believes nursing is her calling, she has expressed interest in moving over to the private sector because ‘it would serve her conscious better’.
“I love what I do, but for the amount of work, of which crime is a major factor, the money we are paid and the inexperience we get as assistance. I am sorry, the private sector sounds and will be a better fit for me,” she told IOL.
Shanaaz Suliman, a patient at Groote Schuur and Lady Michaelis Community Health Centre in Plumstead said she had no complaints when it came to service, efficiency or infrastructure at the facility.
The 71-year-old pensioner from Steenberg has been re-treated for cancer and is being treated for thyroid glands.
However, there is one thing she would like to change.
“If I could change anything it would be that we as patients do not have to wait so long for pills. It would also be much better if the elderly could see a doctor earlier and maybe get transportation to and from hospital as having to travel is not very easy,” she said.
However, another patient has not had the same experience.
Since 2020, Candice van der Rheede, director of the Western Cape Missing Persons Unit (WCMPU) has been in and out of hospital after her lung collapsed.
Her first stay was spent at Mitchells Plain District Hospital.
“They did regular check-ups. Cleaners came to check floors, railings etc to clean every hour. “The ward was spotless. Security was always there.
“If help was needed and you buzzed for help, nurses came immediately,” she told IOL.
While she praised the thoracic ward at Groote Schuur Hospital, she did not mince her words when it came to its ICU ward.
“I was then transferred to Groote Schuur for a thoracotomy on my lung. The only problem I had with the thoracic ward was that our room was in the middle of men’s room.
“They (men) had easy access to our ward. We constantly had to stay awake and watch our things.
“One night I woke up and saw one of the men standing and watching us ladies with no nurses on the inside,” Van der Rheede said.
However, things went from bad to worse after she left the theatre and entered the ICU ward.
“I just came out of the operating room and a senior nurse just pushed me over to my side to see if I had any bed sores.
“The epidural did not work so I was in pain. I was cut from the front right around to the middle of my back.
“I had all types of pipes coming out of me and this woman just comes and pushes me over to the side.
“I addressed her about her way of speaking to people. ICU is supposed to be a place where people are supposed to heal. The last thing one needs is someone who is going to be rude. “If you pressed the buzzer, no one would come.
“Nurses were not kind to patients,” she said.
In November, a regular check-up resulted in Van der Rheede having to overnight at Tygerberg Hospital.
“In November I had heart failure and I had to stay over at Tygerberg Hospital.
“I went in for a general check-up, got an X-ray, they saw a clot and the doctor rushed me to trauma.
“I had to stay overnight in the trauma section.
“Tygerberg is wonderful, doctors, nurses make one feel at home, but in their trauma unit we were men and women sleeping in one room which I had a big problem with. Using one toilet.
“I could not sleep that night,” she recalls.
While she has her reservations about the state of hospitals in the province, Van der Rheede told IOL she commended the Mitchells Plain District Hospital for its impeccable service.
“I would really like to take thank you cards to the staff at Mitchells Plain District Hospital and to staff at the thoracic ward at Groote Schuur Hospital,” she said.
She currently attends the Symphony Clinic in Delft and said the service and cleanliness is of the highest standard.
So, while we know our health-care systems are in a crisis across the country, patients in the Western Cape seem to be satisfied with the current service they have been receiving.