VF+ releases monster report on the horrors of SA medical care

The Vryheidsfront (VF Plus) has received numerous complaints since 2014 regarding state and provincial hospitals, addressing issues such as delayed medical procedures, lack of food and water, patients sleeping on hospital floors without clothes, and extended waiting times.

The VF Plus assisted in resolving these problems and launched a public campaign in July 2022, resulting in 273 complaints received by August 2023 through WhatsApp voice notes, emails, and statements.

The report concerned 93 public health care institutions and three private health care institutions across the country, which were reported to the VF Plus during this period. The purpose of this report is to highlight the challenges in South Africa’s public health sector, urging urgent government interventions to ensure citizens’ constitutional right to healthcare.

The VF Plus conducted extensive oversight visits to state and provincial hospitals in South Africa, revealing appalling conditions. Dilapidated infrastructure, mismanagement, and corruption are evident, with hospitals lacking hygiene standards. Broken facilities, dirty environments, and shortages of supplies contribute to a healthcare crisis. Patients endure long queues, limited services, and instances of giving birth in waiting areas. Security concerns, abuse, and bribery exacerbate the situation.

The report consists mainly of individual cases of neglect and abuse, which tally in the hundreds. For example, from Mitchells Plein:

“You almost need the security’s permission to be sick first… The coloured and white people, in particular, must first explain their symptoms before being helped by the security at the gate.”

From Odendaal Hospital:

“This complainant indicated in a voice note that her baby had pulled out the feeding pipe accidentally and that the baby had not been fed since. According to the complainant, the doctors do not want to allow the baby to be fed and that one doctor refuses to put the feeding pipe back in and the nurse also refuses to help. According to the complainant’s voice note, the doctor in question is also never on duty.”

This is but one of several such severe reports of abuse, neglect, staff and equipment shortages, uncooked or expired food, racial discrimination, such as the following:

”At Tshepong Hospital a patient is put in a bed at casualty and you wait in the casualty for hours, sometimes days to get a bed in a ward. Healthy patients must lie between patients who have died and the isolation between the group of patients is just a curtain, according to the complainant. When someone dies, the bodies next to you just lie wrapped in plastic and patients are exposed to psychological trauma. If you ask for help, the answer from staff is that the patient should wait and that “you should not think because you are white you will be helped.”

From Middelburg:

“At one point the complainant asked the doctor why there was moisture on her mother’s lungs and the doctor replied to her: “I can’t tell you. There are too many white patients”. The complainant also often had to change her mother’s diaper because the nursing staff did not.”

The VF Plus calls for urgent interventions, proposing a commission of inquiry to investigate the decay in the public health system. The dire state of South Africa’s healthcare system, marked by corruption, mismanagement, and a lack of resources, poses risks to both patients and health workers.

The VF Plus urges President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a commission to address these issues. The planned National Health Insurance is seen as insufficient to address these systemic problems and may worsen the situation.

Corruption within the health department, exemplified by cases like the Digital Vibes scandal involving former Minister Zweli Mkhize, contributes to the deterioration of healthcare. Medical professionals are forced to make life-or-death decisions due to insufficient supplies, and patients face lengthy waits for essential procedures.

The VF Plus emphasizes the urgent need for a comprehensive investigation into the public health system’s collapse, highlighting the failure of leadership, capacity, and vision. The former Health Ombudsman, Prof. Malegapuru Makgoba, has highlighted dysfunctional health services in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, and the Free State.

The VF Plus proposes increased funding and staffing for the ombudsman’s office. Shocking revelations from parliamentary questions underscore the gravity of the situation, emphasizing the urgency of addressing the systemic issues plaguing South Africa’s healthcare system.

The report has been submitted to the South African Human Rights Commission.

‍