On the 15th and 16th of August 2017, members of Legislature, government and municipal officials visited health institutions in Harry Gwala District. MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Mr Ravi Pillay joined the delegation as a part of the Health Institutions Functionality Programme to monitor progress since the last visit in 2014.
MEC Pillay greeting patients as he does the hospital inspection at St Appollinaris Hospital
Christ the king Hospital, Kwa-Mashumi Clinic and St Appollinaris Hospital were visited. The purpose of the programme was to investigate the overall functionality of the facilities and challenges that might hinder performance. It focused on the following areas staff establishment, availability and conditions of hospital equipment’s and tools, hospital infrastructure and Maintenance, availability of emergency services and waste management. This exercise was performed as a part of the mandate of Legislature to execute an oversight visit over Government departments to assess issues.
Delegation was impressed by the Pediatric Unit at Christ the King Hospital.
The delegation was oustounded by the cleanliness of the Kitchen of Christ the King Hospital
While there were challenges in some of these institutions such as a lack of space, insufficiencies in budget and a lack of doctors the delegation was immensely impressed by the state of the institutions visited. The delegation commended the institutions on its cleanliness and hard work. The visits to the health institutions was very successful because each of the institutions was able to work around its challenges, come up with solutions for infrastructure and human resources issues as well as to combat diseases and give hope in doing such. The province of KwaZulu-Natal will continue to carry such programmes as a part of good governance to ensure that all people are provided with the best health care possible. The personnel and management of these health institutions should be commended on their tremendous efforts to uphold health care in the province.
