State health facilities poorly managed, says DTA

THE DTA has proposed that the National Assembly discuss the poor state of health care in the country, contending that it was not getting value for its money and that the Ministry of Health was the worst run Ministry in terms of service delivery.

Last Tuesday, DTA MP McHenry Venaani said extensive research he had conducted into the health sector had revealed that most health centres, clinics and hospitals countrywide were in poor condition. “It is my submission that although ministries have scientific operations its challenges are not scientific but pure moral challenges.Challenges of leadership, management, control supervision and execution,” said Venaani.Venaani said he could make this comparison given that the State subsidised private hospitals which were better run than State facilities.He has called on Parliament to support his call for the Minister of Health to institute a performance audit of all management staff and to monitor performance monthly.”Gone should be the days when ministers are only at the mercy of accounting officers and are only relegated to open workshops and events.”It’s now time for appointed officials in the name of the minister to give policy direction to ministries and spend much greater effort and time to internalise your benchmarks, objectives and vision,” said Venaani.Venaani said while the poor state of infrastructure could be accepted because there was not enough money for repairs, unhygienic conditions could not be condoned.”For the building to be centres of cockroaches remains unacceptable now and forever,” said Venaani.According to his research, Venaani said patients waited on average up to five hours at the Katutura and Oshakati State Hospitals before they could see a doctor.Many of these were then told to return the next day for treatment.”We further established that by ten o’clock in the morning all doctors would be generally finished doing all their rounds in wards and would be heading to their private-practice commitments.We further established that there is serious under-utilisation of State doctors in our country,” said Venaani.He said State patient care was being compromised because these doctors were allowed to run private practices, where they are better paid.Venaani said the departure of professional nurses from State service was an indication of their unhappiness with working conditions within the health ministry.He said if it was argued that Namibian nurses were being paid on par with their counterparts elsewhere in the region, then incentives needed to be introduced for those who work beyond their call of duty.Venaani further bemoaned the slow delivery of necessary medicines to hospitals, saying often centres were in short or had no supply.He said Government also needed to plan for patients suffering from uncommon diseases, who are often left to the mercy of the public to raise the needed funds for them to undergo treatment outside Namibia.Venaani said it was unfathomable that emergency centres such as hospitals had to rely on the Ministry of Works to change a light bulb and that some rooms could be plunged into darkness for days on end.He complained of a lack of hot water supply as a result of broken geysers, which were also dependent on the Ministry of Works for repair.”I have further realised that the contribution of uncleanliness primarily lies with the lack of management [in] managing the cleaners and secondary on the cleaners’ insubordination towards authority.The culture of cleaners is to avoid working during normal working hours and in the week, thus allowing the work to pile up and coming in on weekends to claim overtime on work deliberately not done during weekdays,” said Venaani.He also took issue with the maternity ward of the Windhoek Central Hospital where he said grass had been left to grow out of control and was now reaching bed height.Venaani said the State had lost thousands of dollars through laziness, claiming that laundry workers burned or dumped linen because they were not prepared to wash it.Another issue he raised was the catering services in hospitals, alleging that often the food served did not conform to the dietary needs of the patient.Food was also being stolen from kitchens while many patients sometimes waited for hours until their food arrived, he said.”It is my submission that although ministries have scientific operations its challenges are not scientific but pure moral challenges.Challenges of leadership, management, control supervision and execution,” said Venaani.Venaani said he could make this comparison given that the State subsidised private hospitals which were better run than State facilities.He has called on Parliament to support his call for the Minister of Health to institute a performance audit of all management staff and to monitor performance monthly.”Gone should be the days when ministers are only at the mercy of accounting officers and are only relegated to open workshops and events.”It’s now time for appointed officials in the name of the minister to give policy direction to ministries and spend much greater effort and time to internalise your benchmarks, objectives and vision,” said Venaani.Venaani said while the poor state of infrastructure could be accepted because there was not enough money for repairs, unhygienic conditions could not be condoned.”For the building to be centres of cockroaches remains unacceptable now and forever,” said Venaani.According to his research, Venaani said patients waited on average up to five hours at the Katutura and Oshakati State Hospitals before they could see a doctor.Many of these were then told to return the next day for treatment.”We further established that by ten o’clock in the morning all doctors would be generally finished doing all their rounds in wards and would be heading to their private-practice commitments.We further established that there is serious under-utilisation of State doctors in our country,” said Venaani.He said State patient care was being compromised because these doctors were allowed to run private practices, where they are better paid.Venaani said the departure of professional nurses from State service was an indication of their unhappiness with working conditions within the health ministry.He said if it was argued that Namibian nurses were being paid on par with their counterparts elsewhere in the region, then incentives needed to be introduced for those who work beyond their call of duty.Venaani further bemoaned the slow delivery of necessary medicines to hospitals, saying often centres were in short or had no supply.He said Government also needed to plan for patients suffering from uncommon diseases, who are often left to the mercy of the public to raise the needed funds for them to undergo treatment outside Namibia.Venaani said it was unfathomable that emergency centres such as hospitals had to rely on the Ministry of Works to change a light bulb and that some rooms could be plunged into darkness for days on end.He complained of a lack of hot water supply as a result of broken geysers, which were also dependent on the Ministry of Works for repair.”I have further realised that the contribution of uncleanliness primarily lies with the lack of management [in] managing the cleaners and secondary on the cleaners’ insubordination towards authority.The culture of cleaners is to avoid working during normal working hours and in the week, thus allowing the work to pile up and coming in on weekends to claim overtime on work deliberately not done during weekdays,” said Venaani.He also took issue with the maternity ward of the Windhoek Central Hospital where he said grass had been left to grow out of control and was now reaching bed height.Venaani said the State had lost thousands of dollars through laziness, claiming that laundry workers burned or dumped linen because they were not prepared to wash it.Another issue he raised was the catering services in hospitals, alleging that often the food served did not conform to the dietary needs of the patient.Food was also being stolen from kitchens while many patients sometimes waited for hours until their food arrived, he said.