MOSSEL BAY NEWS - It was not all good news when the Western Cape Health MEC, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo came to Mossel Bay for an oversight visit this past week.
Dr Mbombo and a team of senior Department of Health officials met the mayoral committee and municipal manager on Tuesday morning, 24 October.
"We need to assist local leaders to answer any questions the community may have on healthcare issues," the minister said.
However, when asked about plans for a new hospital for which the provincial Health Department had already acquired the land, the minister was emphatic that no such development would be considered any time soon because of other pressing priorities elsewhere.
She did, however, allude to several upgrade projects, among others for the existing Mossel Bay Provincial Hospital, and said plans were well under way to relocate the George Road clinic as it had become way too small for the current demand.
"Major reconstruction and redevelopment is being planned for the Mossel Bay provincial hospital.
"A new X-ray department and emergency centre is being planned, however, planning for an entirely new hospital may only be considered in the very far outer years," Dr Mbombo said.
Planning would not be considered before 2023, and a new hospital would not be built before 2030.
Work on the upgrade of the D'Almeida Clinic would commence in January 2018 and renovations and extensions to the Great Brak Clinic would also follow next year. Likewise, the Alma Clinic would be upgraded.
Mossel Bay Mayor Harry Levendal took the minister to task, reminding her that the Health Department had acquired valuable land for a new hospital.
Members of the Mossel Bay mayoral committee learnt that plans for a new provincial hospital will at best be considered only in 2023. The provincial Minister of Health, Dr Mbombo, also said it would not be possible to station emergency medical transport at rural locations.
Penalised
"Mossel Bay is being penalised for being pro-active. In putting the health of our community upfront, we have actively engaged with local business to fund local clinics, even for money to have the extensions to local clinics built.
"We have not knocked on the department's door for funding. When the department indicated that land was needed for a new hospital, valuable land was set aside - land the department has invested in by having an environmental assessment done.
"We have faced a community uprising over the land that was made available. I have seen the plans for the hospital. I was told in 2012 the hospital would have been completed by now," Levendal said.
"Minister, I have sent you a photo of people in the rural community of Ruiterbos sitting on the ground, waiting in queues for health care services. People who are ill should not be sitting on the ground; this should not happen.
"Compared to what the municipality does to enhance healthcare, we as a community can expect the department to deliver in return. Our people should not have to be satisfied with sub-class facilities," the mayor said.
The minister responded by alluding to the worsening economic conditions and increasing health care priorities in places such as Malmesbury, where a fire had destroyed the local hospital.
"Fires, the drought, even the increasing prevalence of crime has forced us to reprioritise healthcare planning." The minister also alluded to the amount in the equitable share that has, in effect, not increased in real terms since 2011.
Head of the Mossel Bay Provincial Hospital and of primary healthcare in the greater Mossel Bay district, Dr Paul Ruschenbaum, said the current infrastructure was inadequate in terms of healthcare standards.
He insisted the George Road Clinic was relocated urgently.
He also stressed that poor funding made it impossible to increase the operating hours of some of the clinics that only operate on certain days, and said that the upgrade of the D'Almeida and Alma clinics were of huge importance.
In conclusion, the minister said the department would include community and councillor feedback in its 2018/19 planning cycle.
ARTICLE & PHOTOS: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER NEWS EDITOR
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