KZN DoH failing to deploy critically needed volunteer doctors and nurses due to lack of policy

1 February 2021

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) following the shocking announcement - by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Health Head of Department (HOD), Dr Sandile Tshabalala - that, despite the chronic need for volunteer doctors and nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department has no policy on volunteers and is therefore unable to act on their own appeal for help.

The HOD’s comments, made during a recent Health portfolio meeting, come after KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu – as far back as April 2020 – called on medical professionals who are currently not within the system, to come forward and assist overworked hospital staff.

I had personally taken up MEC Simelane-Zulu's call for medical volunteers yet, to date, I have not been placed in any facilities to assist the Department's efforts. During last week’s portfolio committee meeting I raised this issue, only to be told that the DoH disbanded its volunteer policy approximately six years ago and that it has never been replaced.

The DA regards it as completely unacceptable that eight months into the pandemic and two surges in cases later, the Department is still no closer to finalising its medical volunteer policy. KZNs’ Human Resources Department could easily have collaborated with colleagues in other provinces that have already rolled out their medical volunteer programme.

One of the excuses from the HOD is that of developing a standpoint on the indemnification of medical volunteers, with the HOD indicating that there are many potential volunteers in a similar position as myself awaiting their placement.

To make matters worse, the Department has, since the start of the pandemic, failed to deal with this lack of policy despite the urgency of the situation. The Department's much touted additional Covid-19 beds are useless without the doctors and nurses to provide the vital care.

The past year has already seen numerous cries from strained healthcare workers for additional staff to assist in their pandemic efforts. Many have also had to do the work of their colleagues who have been in self-quarantine, admitted to hospital or who have unfortunately passed away. Yet the DoH still does not have a staff replacement programme for such occasions.

This has had a major impact on patient care as witnessed in the harrowing video clip of Mrs Rowena Hawley, a patient at Wentworth Hospital, who received no assistance while pleading for oxygen. The Department later blamed this on short-staffing at the hospital.

Many clinics and hospitals across eThekwini have also experienced long patient queues and long waiting times. Some patients at the Phoenix Community Health Clinic have indicated having to wait for up to two days before being seen for their chronic medical conditions. Again, these situations are blamed on short-staffing.

These conditions and the Department's lack of urgency in finalising a policy on medical volunteers violates the rights of patients to access healthcare set out in Section 27 of the Constitution. It also infringes on the rights of healthcare workers to fair labour practices and decent working conditions as set out in section 23. Furthermore, it compromises the right to dignity for both groups.

It is based on this that the DA has written to the SAHRC and has called for an investigation into these violations of the Bill of Rights.

It is time that MEC Simelane-Zulu and her HOD took responsibility and accountability for this Department's ongoing failures. The DA has written to both KZN Premier SihleZikalala and National Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize to request that this takes place.

Both the Premier and the Minister have echoed President Ramaphosa's call for all South Africans to come together and assist in the Covid-19 pandemic fight. Yet when South Africans do so, they are failed by governmental and administrative failures. This cannot be allowed to continue and the Premier and Minister must urgently intervene.

We cannot have patients and healthcare workers suffering due to short-staffing when there are volunteers willing and able to assist.

Issued by Rishigen Viranna, DA KZN Spokesperson on Health, 1 February 2021