The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the office of the Health Ombud (OHSC), asking them to hold Mpumalanga’s Health MEC, Sasekani Manzini, accountable for the systematic and critical failures at Rob Ferrera Hospital. This is after we learned that Mpumalanga’s Tertiary Hospital, Rob Ferreira, has had no hot water for more than four years, forcing nurses to bath patients with cold water even in winter months.
Recently, the DA and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) did an oversight at the hospital after a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Some visitors were seen bringing in kettles to heat water to bath and make tea for their relatives. When we asked why, staff members who spoke to the DA on condition of anonymity, told us that the hospital has had no hot water for over four years, and they have given up asking why. Apparently, the staff members have accepted it as a normality, to the point that most of them also bring their own kettles from home.
Not only is Rob Ferreira facing problems with water, but they are also faced with severe staff shortages, long waiting times for patients to be attended, and overcrowding – which some staff members claimed that it is exacerbated by undocumented immigrants.
We also found that some patients have no choice, but to bring their own blankets, bedsheets, and pillows from home as the hospital has a severe shortage of linen. This was corroborated by the staff members.
We also found that the hospital has a shortage of beds, forcing nurses to turn stretchers and wheelchairs into beds. Some patients are given plain mattresses to sleep on the floor.
Toilets in males, females, and maternity Wards are either not working or have no running water most of the times. Some of the working toilets have no doors. Patients and new mothers must leave their babies to go find working toilets somewhere in the hospital. The inhumane conditions in Rob Ferreira Hospital compromises hygiene.
The DA wants the Health Ombud (OHSC) to intervene by holding MEC Manzini accountable for the systematic and critical failures at Rob Ferrera Hospital. It is common knowledge that a hygiene compromised environment may be fatal to patients recovering from surgery, chronic illnesses, or those with weakened immune systems.
On the next sitting of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, the DA will also table a Motion asking for the Health Portfolio Committee to conduct their own oversight at Rob Ferreira hospital, and to come back and report to house on their own findings and make recommendations for immediate and long-term solutions to this problem.
The DA also hopes that the SAHRC will take this matter further as they did the oversight with us and saw by themselves the appalling and inhumane conditions at Rob Ferreira Hospital.