The Mthatha General hospital, which serves 2,5-million people in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape, has a 32% vacancy rate among doctors and a 39% vacancy rate among pharmacists, according to figures released by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Monday.
This emerged in reply to a question from outgoing official opposition health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
There are currently 72 vacancies for doctors — up from 53 a year ago — out of 226 posts. There are 91 nursing posts vacant — up from 75 a year ago — out of a total of 597 posts. These translate into a vacancy rate of 15%.
Kohler-Barnard pointed out that there have been 348 resignations by nurses in the past three years, while 75 posts have been vacant for more than a year.
Asked how many community-service doctors were in place at the hospital in the past three years, the minister said there had been 12 in 2005, 13 in 2004 and 10 in 2003.
Resignations from the hospital reached a peak in 2004 when 54 doctors resigned — up from eight the previous year — before dropping to six in 2005. In 2004, 166 nurses resigned, up from 97 the previous year. This dropped to 85 in 2005. In addition, five specialists resigned in 2004, of 36 specialist posts at the institution.
Tshabalala-Msimang, who reported that there had been 23 745 patients attended to at the hospital in the past three years, noted that a new CEO was appointed to the hospital in December last year.
The absenteeism rate also rose in 2004 with a 4% rate among doctors, an 8% rate among nurses, a 5% rate among dentists and pharmacists and a 5% rate among specialists. This compared with 3% for doctors in 2003, 8% for nurses in that year, 3% for dentists and 4% for pharmacists and specialists in 2003.
Kohler-Barnard, who is being shifted from shadow health minister to safety and security, said that from the information provided by the minister it is ”quite clear” that the hospital is badly understaffed and under-resourced.
”Apart from the consistently high number of vacancies in each of the categories, the dramatic number of resignations among nurses stands out as a key problem.
”Quite simply, the hospital cannot function properly with the sort of shortages it currently faces,” said Kohler-Barnard.
She said she had on Monday written to Eastern Cape health minister Nomsa Jajula and the CEO of the hospital to present ”these facts to them” and to enquire about steps the provincial department is putting in place to deal with the matter. — I-Net Bridge