ALARM AT CRUMBLING HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

THE South African healthcare system is facing intense challenges due to inadequate funding, which is exacerbated by a “culture of wastage and mismanagement” at state facilities, is the assertion made by KwaZulu-Natal businessman and activist Narendh Ganesh.

- SIPHO JACK

Ganesh voiced his concerns about the decaying state of healthcare in the country in a series of letters to Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi.

He highlighted a variety of ongoing issues affecting all tiers of the country’s public healthcare system, from major state hospitals to community health centres (CHCs) and peripheral clinics, which hindered the work of healthcare practitioners and ultimately impacted the level of care patients received.

Ganesh said he became well versed with the misuse, wastage, and mismanagement due to extensive consultation with various health practitioners in the province.

Apart from consulting, he penned his observations to the minister via several letters until he was taken by surprise when he eventually received a response on Friday.

“As budgets rapidly deplete long before the financial year concludes, essential services and lifesaving drugs become scarce,” Ganesh explained, indicating that pressure on an already beleaguered system was mounting.

Some of the other alarming issues that came to the fore for him were the wastage of drugs and improper disposal practices, which not only led to environmental pollution but also fostered the development of antibiotic resistance.

He also noted the financial losses that occurred when medication expired or was deemed obsolete, which were usually the result of poor management of resources.