A VIDEO taken on Friday, 22 December 2022, which exposed the appalling conditions of the casualty ward at the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, has reemerged, pressuring the Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo Ralehoko to conduct a service delivery oversight.
On Thursday, 25 January, Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness visited Tembisa Hospital.
"The resurfacing of this video got me worried because all the issues appearing on the video were addressed. You can see the improvement," Nkomo Ralehoko said.
She explained that there is no more overcrowding at the hospital, especially in the mental care wards, and in the accident and emergency areas, one can see that there has been a lot of improvement.
"I am proud of the team of doctors, nurses, and even the cleaners with the work they've been doing in Tembisa; they were able to address all these issues that communities were raising without fail. Doctors are there in numbers, nurses are there, medication is there, there is no shortage of anything," she added.
Nkomo Ralehoko said they are still struggling with the influx of patients from areas other than Tembisa, such as Diepsloot and Daveyton.
"However, to prevent overcrowding, we are speaking to the HOD and the DDG clinical services; they are busy with the teams, especially at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, to accommodate some of the patients that are supposed to be accommodated at Steve Biko Hospital.
She mentioned the fact that there is a new hospital to be built in Daveyton.
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"In this financial year, we will start the plans to build that hospital. Everything is approved. In the meantime, we are trying to ensure that at least whoever comes to this hospital is being attended to," she said.
On the allegations whereby members of the DA alleged that they were denied entrance at the hospital, the MEC said there are rules when doing an oversight; there has to be a letter from the legislature indicating that they are going to come to Tembisa and she didn't receive such letter and will not allow anyone to come without that letter.
"The reason being, two years back, we lost a colleague, a nurse, who was killed in the hospital. We got quite a number of similar cases, and now we are trying to normalise the hospital environment. A hospital is a private place where you can't expect people to come anytime," she said.
"As you can see that, our mental health care wards are no longer overcrowded. Renovations have been done to accommodate patients. We have enough beds, ten beds in the female ward and 50 beds in the male ward," said the Acting CEO of Tembisa Provincial Hospital, Dr Mohlamme Mathabathe.
"I'm treated well with kindness and care," said an elderly patient.
