After contending with old washing machines that often broke down, resulting in delays in washing laundry at Frere Hospital, the Eastern Cape department of health bought a state-of-the-art tunnel washer for R18m.
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.
Patients requiring orthopaedic surgery such as joint replacements at East London’s Frere Hospital face a decade-long wait. Patients requiring joint replacements are often in agonising pain. Daron Mann speaks to Jane Cowley, Democratic Alliance's health spokesperson and shadow MEC for Health as they unpack the devastating 10-year wait patients requiring orthopaedic surgery such as joint replacements face.
The Eastern Cape department of health has allocated R1.42bn to renovate and refurbish 110 healthcare centres across the province in the 2023/24 financial year which begins next week.