The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Wednesday repeated its call for the removal of “the corrupt African National Congress (ANC) government” from power in light of the crisis in public healthcare.

The EFF released a statement dismissing Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s recent statement that the public health sector was not on the verge of collapse.

“The EFF is utterly shocked at Motsoaledi’s denialism of this reality, and this will lead to the death of many citizens. At this rate, he will very soon assume a title of Dr. Death because of his denialism. You can never solve problems if you keep denying it’s intensity and severity as Motsoaledi does,” the party said.

The EFF has declared that 2018 is the Year of Public Healthcare.

The EFF added that the crisis at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg had been looming and was not a surprise because the healthcare system “has been in shambles for quite some time now”.

“The ambulances in KwaZulu-Natal and in Limpopo are not working, if they are the service is poor. In the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West there have been numerous reports on the shortage of beds, poor medicine supply or a total shortage thereof, long queues and rude staff; that humiliates and condemns our people to indignity. Patient’s rights are not respected and their safety is not even a consideration in many hospitals,” alleged the EFF.

The EFF went on to fault Motsoaledi for blaming the provincial administrations for not fixing the public healthcare.

“If Motsoaledi thinks centralizing power is a solution, by now, he should have already proposed the necessary legislative changes,” suggested the EFF.

Among the issues that the EFF says require urgent attention are the high levels of corruption in the health department, public health institutions having no basic facilities, buildings detriorating, and broken machines.

“There is a shortage of doctors and nurses, and community health workers and lay HIV counsellors earn R2 500 a month. The maladministration and mismanagement of funds is deplorable,” the party concluded.

The EFF declared that Motsoaledi had presided over the worst healthcare collapse since the dawn of democracy.