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Hospital, Bed, Doctor image
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, NEHAWU, says South Africa’s public healthcare system is under severe strain due to staff shortages, budget cuts and ageing infrastructure.
Health officials has warned that some facilities have only one doctor for more than a thousand patients.
The organization says burnout among healthcare workers and poor leadership are worsening conditions in hospital and clinics.
The union has called for urgent systemic reforms and improved funding for public healthcare.
NEHAWU Parliamentary Officer, Barry Mitchell says, “Budget cuts impact not only infrastructure decay, but also, as you mentioned, the staff shortages. So, the lines that we see outside clinics and hospitals and public health care facilities are a direct and intentional step that Treasury has made for the past 10 years to cut the funding to these public institutions, public health care facilities, which means that you cannot, they don’t fill the vacancies that are required, doctors, nurses, cleaners, porters, whatever it might be. The doctors, the nurses, the staff at these public health care institutions then burn out, which then impacts the quality of service.”
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