NHI pilot project fails at Elim District Hospital as cash and staff shortages continue
26 July 2018
Today, the DA conducted an oversight inspection at the Elim District Hospital in Limpopo. The health facility was administered under the failed National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot project in the Vhembe District.
The challenges at the Elim District Hospital are proof that the NHI will not address the serious issues at the root of the collapsing public health sector. Simply put, the NHI is not a feasible plan to fix the public health care system. If the pilot projects are failing, how can the ANC government expect it to succeed on a national level?
In the 2016/17 financial year, the Vhembe District scored a lowly 42% in the Office of Health Standards Compliance’s (OHSC) Annual Inspection Report and the DA’s findings at the hospital were indicative of why the district performed so poorly.
The DA spoke to the hospital’s CEO, Pfuluwani Matodzi, who stated that the 108-year-old hospital is currently faced with challenges such as staff shortages, despite the fact that 95% of the hospital’s budget is allocated towards personnel costs. Other challenges raised by the CEO include infrastructure issues and continuous water shortages.