In some of these hospitals, ventilation is so poor that there is a major probability that people with TB will infect others as there is no fresh air coming into these wards. This defeats the plan to reduce the burden of TB, because instead of people getting better, they get worse and infect others at the same time.
In the last financial year, there were hospitals that did not spend the budget they were allocated, which, had it been spent, would have gone a long way in improving the state of health care. This cannot be allowed to continue, because it means those put in charge of ensuring the improvement of health care are either too reluctant to do so, preferring to receive their salaries for doing nothing, or they are involved in corruption as they end up misappropriating these funds. This is the state of affairs every year and nothing seems to change.
We constantly read reports of hospital staff, from administration to nurses and doctors, who mistreat patients or are indifferent to people's needs. If one asks community members about the staff of their local hospitals or clinics, they will complain about being mistreated or ignored when they need help. A constant state of affairs one finds is of unqualified people doing work that they are not qualified for - their carelessness constantly puts the lives of patients at risk.
We cannot even begin to deal with issues of HIV and Aids, TB, and incidents of maternal and child mortality if the basics of health care are not in place. As much as we need to see action being taken on these issues, the basic structures of health care need to be dealt with as well. We need to be able to support leaders, like the MECs, who take their responsibilities seriously, because anything less results in the death of our people. Our rural areas are the worst affected and yet nothing seems to have changed over the years. The department needs to make drastic improvements in providing health care or else our people will never know what it is like to receive proper basic health care.
Sengigcina Sihlalo, ngifisa ukusho lokhu, akuqiniswe ezokuphepha ezibhedlela kanye nasemawodini. Lokhu ngikusho ngoba eThekwini kukhona isiguli sesilisa esangena ngefasitela saya esigulini sesifazane sasidlwengula. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[In conclusion, Chairperson, I wish to say this: safety must be reinforced in the hospitals and in the wards. I say this because in Durban a male patient entered through a window and raped a female patient.]
That patient died. Nevertheless, the IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]