After being plagued by admission irregularities and bribery claims for years, health minister Dr Joe Phaahla has been urged to investigate the intake at Lilitha Nursing College after the process stoked fresh controversy. This comes after allegations that the college has sidelined relevant stakeholders, including labour unions, while the provincial health department reportedly failed to address critical issues brought to its attention.
A total of 129 healthcare professionals, including university heads, CEOs, scientists, medical specialists, doctors and professors, have written to Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane pleading with him to rescind his decision to remove provincial health’s head of department, Dr Rolene Wagner, from her position.
With the provincial health department having spent most of its goods and services budget just five months into the financial year, there are concerns the department might soon run out of funds for critical healthcare.
Mbulelo Sogoni, director-general of the office of the premier, is concerned by the provincial health department’s tardiness in filling more than 1,000 critical posts, including CEOs of various hospitals and directors of several sub-departments.