Releasing the results of the audit report in Pretoria, this week, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, acknowledged that there are aspects in public health that needed urgent intervention.   These include improving the health facilities’€™ cleanliness and patient safety levels. Motsoaledi says the quality of health care has been compromised.

‘€œI have argued that a hospital or a clinic is supposed to be the cleanest space in human life, more than anything. The people who come to our health institutions are sick and poor, they are in trouble and to go there and find a dirty institution cannot be tolerated’€, Motsoaledi says.

The audit report was conducted by the Health Systems Trust (HST), an NGO that monitors standards of health systems and primary health care in Southern Africa. In its study, the HST assessed the state of the country’€™s public health institutions under six priority areas of quality, which included the availability of medicine supply, cleanliness, waiting times and infection control.

Over 3 000 of the country’€™s 4 000 health facilities have been audited countrywide and the assessment is expected to be completed in July. The results of the audit have identified four districts where intervention is needed. They are Motheo in the Free State, Sedibeng in Gauteng, Zululand in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Pixley ka Seme in the Northen Cape. The HST’€™s Ronel Visser paints a dismal picture of facilities in Motheo and Sedibeng.

‘€œIn Motheo, in the Free State, 77% failed in terms of cleanliness, 64% failed on availability of medicine supply and 60% failed on improved patient safety. Moving to Sedibeng, in Gauteng, 79% failure in cleanliness, 58% failed in terms of medicine supply and (the) third highest area of concern here is 57% on caring and positive attitudes. But, it is encouraging to see that their waiting times are 25% failure’€, says Visser.

As a result of the bad assessment outcomes in the districts, Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has appointed a team of inspectors to assist the four districts of Motheo, Sedibeng, Zululand and Pixley ka Seme to improve their health facilities.

‘€œWe have trained teams of people over the past few months and they are gravitating to these districts. Everything that we have seen as failure, they are going to sit down institution by institution to see how to correct it. That must happen! We will be examining why our hospitals are dirty. Same as security’€¦ We need proper people with the right skills to fill these posts’€, says Motsoaledi.

The audit also revealed that primary health care facilities were under-utilised by the public.

‘€œIt explains why our hospitals are congested. People don’€™t get good service in the clinics, so they rush to the hospitals. So, we have to make sure we go in to improve them’€, Motsoaledi says.

Meanwhile, R1billion has been allocated to pilot the National Health Insurance (NHI) system in 10 districts. The NHI is expected to be phased in over a period of 14years.

‘€œTo implement NHI you need lots of preparatory work. We will be using this R1billion for that’€, says Motsoaledi.  

The Health Minister also announced that there will be a replacement of hospital CEOs. Over 90 CEO posts will be advertised. Motsoaledi says health facilities needed people with a medical background to run the facilities optimally. The current CEOs will be re-deployed within the health system.