Portfolio Committee concerned about state of KZN health facilities

The National Portfolio Committee on Health has expressed concern about KwaZulu-Natal’s healthcare facilities.

The committee is currently in the province to conduct oversight visits to several healthcare facilities after receiving letters of complaints from members of the public.

Residents at Gamalakhe near Port Shepstone where the committee visited, say they often wait all day in long queues from early morning and are turned away without being helped, while others say they are poorly treated by certain staff.

[WATCH] The National Health Portfolio committee has expressed concern over the state of the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal. pic.twitter.com/FxaRueOgnp

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There’s been concern regarding poor service and the shortage of certain medication in public health facilities in the province.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Sbongiseni Dhlomo says, “Some of the members of the society who wrote to me, wrote to us regarding what they think are challenges with the attitude of staff, of a shortage of medicine, we are going to get a hands-on response today. We can’t leave KwaZulu-Natal not having visited the forensic pathology services, we’re going to Park Rynie and we’re going to Phoenix, because there’s always been over a thousand unclaimed bodies remaining in those mortuaries.”

 KZN Health Department | Concerns over poor service