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The Democratic Alliance (DA) North West Spokesperson on Health, Dr Tutu Faleni, has written to the MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike, following a DA oversight inspection to Koster Hospital revealed the hospital to be dilapidated, unsecured and short-staffed.

Last week the DA conducted an oversight inspection to Koster hospital, we found the building in a dilapidated state, the roof is leaking and in some wards, the ceiling was caving in.

The safety of the staff members and patients is not guaranteed as people walk into the hospital without being checked for any weapons, or registered. There is also no security at the maternity and children’s wards.

The hospital is short-staffed with only 26 registered nurses and no assistant nurses, the 26 nurses are divided into midwife and paediatric wards respectively whilst the remaining 14 have to manage the rest of the wards.

On the day the DA inspected the hospital there was only one cleaning staff who was on duty and responsible for cleaning as well as feeding of patients. The hospital is extremely dirty and very unhygienic as there are no cleaning machines or equipment.

During the oversight inspection, the entire Koster area had no electricity, and the hospital did not have a backup generator working due to an oil leakage on the generator as a result of a lack of maintenance.

The DA also found that the geyser has not been working and there is no hot water available to use which further puts the lives of patients at risk as the equipment used does not get properly sterilised.

There were not enough beds and blankets for patients to use and patients have to bring their own blankets, there was no clean linen because the services are outsourced and laundry is only done twice a week.

The Out Patient Department area is very small, there is no privacy for patients using the reception area there. And although the pharmacy is well-staffed the medicine storage rooms are very small and the medicines are kept at three different storages which are far apart.

The mortuary is very small and can only accommodate six corpses.

Koster hospital needs serious renovation and attention from the Department of Health, the DA will request the MEC for Health to assign an administrator who will deal with the urgent challenges the hospital faces.

By allowing Koster Hospital to operate under these circumstances the ANC is proving once again that it is incapable of putting the lives of patients first.

It is time for change led by the DA that will accelerate the delivery of basic and quality health services, builds One South Africa for All.

Issued by DA