Steve Biko hospital patients don’t arrive early to “socialise”

26 June 2019

I am astounded by the reported comment of Steve Biko Hospital CEO Dr Mathabo Mathebula that patients arriving earlier than 4 am in the morning are there for socialising.

She is quoted in the Rekord Moot as follows:

“They hold picnics outside the hospital and are not there for healthcare.”

This is ignorant and extremely insensitive to the plight of hundreds of patients who arrive in the early hours every morning to ensure  that they will see a doctor and get their medicine.

It is especially bad now in the freezing cold of winter. I saw this for myself when I visited the hospital last week at 4 am.

I challenge Dr Mathebula to arrive at the hospital very early in the morning and see for herself how desperate and miserable people are. They are afraid of crime and are certainly not there to socialise.

She should rather improve the hospital administration than blame the patients.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 26 June 2019