Clinics in Nelson Mandela Bay, Sarah Baartman and Joe Gqabi districts are turning patients with chronic conditions away because they do not have medication for them. These patients are now at huge risk of becoming gravely ill. Patients with chronic illnesses such as Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Diabetes must take medication daily to manage their conditions successfully. This medication is a lifeline that allows them to live lives of value. The …


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In a damning response to questions from the Democratic Alliance, the Eastern Cape Department of Health has revealed that patients needing orthopaedic surgery will have to wait up to ten years before being treated. This is completely unacceptable. I have now written to the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Paahla, and the Health Ombudsman to urgently intervene and address the province’s critical surgery backlog. Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth revealed that …


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Patients waiting for life-saving orthopaedic surgeries at Livingstone Hospital have now been told by their doctors to call President Cyril Ramaphosa, because their hands are tied and cannot operate because there are no implants or surgical supplies available. This is a humanitarian crisis. Patients with broken bones, lying in agony, are being told to ask the president for help because the Department entrusted with their care cannot fulfil its basic …


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Flash floods that hit Komani during the early hours of this morning have taken out generators at both the town’s hospitals, placing patients’ lives at risk. One generator at the Frontier Hospital, which services the maternity ward, as well as ICU and theatre, has malfunctioned, while the generator servicing the maternity unit at the privately owned Life Queenstown has also been taken offline due to the flooding. Without these generators, …


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The Cradock hospital has had its power cut off by the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality because the Department of Health has not paid its municipal account. The Department owes a whopping R5,7 million to the municipality. By not paying its account, the Department has placed the lives of patients at risk. Premature babies cannot be kept warm or ventilated, blood samples and medication cannot be stored at the correct temperatures …


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The generator at the B. J. Vorster Hospital in Kareedouw malfunctioned at the start of the year, endangering patients’ lives whenever loadshedding is implemented. Three weeks have passed, but it has still not been repaired. To make matters worse, ESKOM says the hospital cannot be exempted from loadshedding! Nurses are now forced to bring torches with them to work, while critical life-saving procedures must be scheduled according to the latest …


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The latest adjustments budget, tabled in the Eastern Cape Legislature last week, made it clear that there is simply not enough money available to rescue the failing Department of Health that is factually bankrupt. Despite nearly a billion rand in additional funding, there is still a significant shortfall in what is needed to bring financial stability to the Department, which had accruals of close on R5 billion at the beginning …


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A year later and the Eastern Cape Department of Health has still not paid a service provider who supplied critical, life-saving implants for paediatric cardiology patients at the Provincial Hospital. When the Department doesn’t pay, it’s not just the suppliers and their employees who suffer. It is also the patients as companies become reluctant to provide further goods and services at the risk of incurring worse debt. Health MEC Nomakosazana …


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Of the 84 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) bases in the Eastern Cape, not one is compliant with EMS regulations in terms of personnel required at the base. These critical staff shortages mean that roughly 60% of the ambulances available can’t be used, as there are not enough staff to man them. People across the province, in a time of crisis, have had to wait for hours in the hopes that …


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