Mpumalanga Heath Department’s lack of plans to employ medical doctors especially specialists like paediatricians is one of the leading causes in increased child deaths.
Currently, Mpumalanga public healthcare facilities like many provinces are struggling due to the lack of medical doctors and specialists. The shortage of specialists like paediatricians in the province is evident as the Mpumalanga’s Health Department’s second and third quarter reports for 2023/2024 revealed more deaths for children under 5 years of age than the previous 12 months.
The department stated in these reports that the shortage of paediatricians and late presentation of children in health facilities are the challenges they face across Mpumalanga. They also mentioned that children under the age of five are losing their lives due to pneumonia and severe acute malnutrition as well as diarrhoea.
It is evident that the ANC led government does not care that more children are dying in public hospitals and have no plan to rescue Mpumalanga’s children.
Mpumalanga advertised vacant positions for doctors in recent months, but this does not guarantee that more will be absorbed, this is the response Premier Refilwe Mtsweni–Tsipane gave during her response to oral questions.
The DA has a plan to rescue South Africans from a broken healthcare system, first we need to remove politicians from the running of healthcare facilities and increase access to healthcare services.
The DA will also enhance health workforce planning and prevent shortages of doctors by developing a national health workers plan to identify skill shortages and to ensure that we have sufficient doctors, nurses, and administrators in the system. This plan will rely on academic institutions, health departments and training facilities working together to prevent mismatches in supply that could lead to unemployed graduates.