Concern over safety standards at hospitals

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Monday expressed concern about the poor safety standards in some of the country’s public hospitals.

“We get terribly worried ... when we find in some instances that healthcare delivery takes place in an environment that is less clean and poses other health risks to the users and the providers,” she said while tabling the Department of Health’s interim evaluation report on the state of the country’s healthcare facilities in Cape Town.

Twenty-seven hospitals had been evaluated thus far.

Clinical care, governance and access to care were some of the criteria used to evaluate the hospitals.

The facilities, which included 27 hospitals and four clinics, were randomly visited by department officials.

“In general we were quite happy with the performance of the 31 facilities, despite challenges that exist in other facilities,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.

She said the initiative, launched in April, had helped alert the department to some of the pressing challenges faced by hospitals.

“For us, this is really just the beginning of the process and as it brings new things to our attention, we will certainly act on those,” she said.—Sapa