Civic organisations are not convinced by the provincial department of health’s assurance that the only change to affect Cathcart Hospital will be its reclassification.
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has accused the department of lying to the media when earlier this week deputy director-general of clinical services Dr Patrick Maduna said nothing would change at the facility.
Sanco’s Cathcart chairman Vakalisa Ceshemba claims that at the time of Maduna’s statement the hospital’s budget had already been cut.
“As people of Cathcart, we are not interested in listening to people who continue defending what is wrong, telling people lies,” he said.
Last week the community of Cathcart staged protests that at times became violent and closed the N6 between East London and Aliwal North when trucks were set on fire.
They also published a list of demands which included greater availability of ambulances, upgrading the hospital and food shortages at the facility.
After the protests, Maduna said 20 hospitals would be “reclassified” and not downgraded. These include hospitals at Fort Beaufort, Dordrecht, Bedford and Jamestown.
He said that previously hospitals with fewer than 50 beds had been wrongfully classified as district hospitals, whereas in fact they were community hospitals or community health centres.
What this implied, according to the department, was that the hospitals would serve sub-districts instead of entire districts. However, all other services would remain the same.
“This is not true. They have already cut the budget of the hospital. He said nothing about that,” Ceshemba said.
“We know that this government does not have any interest in uplifting the standards of living of this poor community,” he said.
This week, Sanco and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) wrote to health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi urging that the MEC attend a proposed imbizo on May 6 at the town hall to address the community on issues surrounding the hospital.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana said Dyantyi had received the petition.
“The MEC dispelled some of the issues which were raised in that petition. The department reiterates that there will be no changes in that hospital.
“Sanco handed in the petition and we never responded through the media.
“They are the ones who went to the media and said that the hospital will become a clinic and that we would close the clinic in town, which was not the case.
“The MEC had committed that there would be further engagements with the community of Cathcart to clarify certain issues.
“We have a right to give people the correct information, without distortion,” said Manana.
Manana would not confirm if the hospital’s budget would be cut, but did say budgets were reviewed on an ongoing basis, and where the department saw a need for further allocations, it would respond accordingly. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
Concern over hospital reclassification
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has accused the department of lying to the media when earlier this week deputy director-general of clinical services Dr Patrick Maduna said nothing would change at the facility.
Sanco’s Cathcart chairman Vakalisa Ceshemba claims that at the time of Maduna’s statement the hospital’s budget had already been cut.
“As people of Cathcart, we are not interested in listening to people who continue defending what is wrong, telling people lies,” he said.
Last week the community of Cathcart staged protests that at times became violent and closed the N6 between East London and Aliwal North when trucks were set on fire.
They also published a list of demands which included greater availability of ambulances, upgrading the hospital and food shortages at the facility.
After the protests, Maduna said 20 hospitals would be “reclassified” and not downgraded. These include hospitals at Fort Beaufort, Dordrecht, Bedford and Jamestown.
He said that previously hospitals with fewer than 50 beds had been wrongfully classified as district hospitals, whereas in fact they were community hospitals or community health centres.
What this implied, according to the department, was that the hospitals would serve sub-districts instead of entire districts. However, all other services would remain the same.
“This is not true. They have already cut the budget of the hospital. He said nothing about that,” Ceshemba said.
“We know that this government does not have any interest in uplifting the standards of living of this poor community,” he said.
This week, Sanco and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) wrote to health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi urging that the MEC attend a proposed imbizo on May 6 at the town hall to address the community on issues surrounding the hospital.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana said Dyantyi had received the petition.
“The MEC dispelled some of the issues which were raised in that petition. The department reiterates that there will be no changes in that hospital.
“Sanco handed in the petition and we never responded through the media.
“They are the ones who went to the media and said that the hospital will become a clinic and that we would close the clinic in town, which was not the case.
“The MEC had committed that there would be further engagements with the community of Cathcart to clarify certain issues.
“We have a right to give people the correct information, without distortion,” said Manana.
Manana would not confirm if the hospital’s budget would be cut, but did say budgets were reviewed on an ongoing basis, and where the department saw a need for further allocations, it would respond accordingly. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
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