Some patients prefer floor to beds, claims Gauteng health MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko

Gauteng health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has rubbished claims provincial hospitals have an overcrowding crisis, claiming some patients simply prefer sleeping on the floor.

In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, the MEC said the department was managing the situation.

“The problem is big, but we are managing it as the department of health. At no stage [were people] sleeping on the floor. I have not seen people sleeping on the floor, because even now we are buying beds. In fact, we are even taking some of the beds to the clinics.”

Nkomo-Ralehoko said she had distributed 250 beds in Vereeniging. She said in some instances the problem was that the facility in question was small. However, the department had a referral system to transport patients to hospitals with available beds.

“When an ambulance [is on its way] to Bara [Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital], for example, and we know [they] don’t have beds [there], we … divert them to the nearest hospital with beds. I’ve clustered the hospitals so that we [can] deal with the problem you have seen of people sleeping on the floor.”

We are changing the face of our clinics … There has been a huge improvement, but unfortunately … Gautengers don’t appreciate that.

—   — Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Gauteng health MEC

She went on to say some patients preferred sleeping on the floor, claiming she had encountered this phenomenon with pregnant women.

“Did you know that when you are sick, you want to [lie] down? [Especially] when you are pregnant and want to deliver and are in pain, [you] go down and sleep on the floor. The patients will say, ‘Leave me — I want to sleep on the floor.’ To you, it’s [just] people who are sleeping on the floor, because you come and steal that with your camera. There was an old lady who was crawling. Did you know that the old lady had been given a wheelchair, but she didn’t want it? She was in pain, but she said she didn’t want to sit [down] … [The reason she was crawling on the floor] was not because there was no wheelchair available.”

Nkomo-Ralehoko accused journalists of pushing a narrative that hospitals were overcrowded and lacked beds, telling the Sunday Times she had decided to bar journalists from taking pictures at hospitals.

“That is why I always say I don’t want journalists in my hospitals, because you take photos of something you assume. You work on assumptions in most cases. You may be right in [some] cases, but sometimes [you are simply making] assumptions. So [with regard to] this problem of yours of overcrowding, I [now] have a referral policy. I have a dashboard here on the 15th floor [that tells me] where the beds are. It tells [me] every day which facilities have no beds. You [would not] take a patient [to a hospital] where you knew there were no beds, unless you were malicious,” she said.

She said the department was busy with renovations at most hospitals, adding that, of the 37 in the province, fewer than 10 needed refurbishment. She said that, while she was working to improve hospitals, her department needed more funds.

“We are using the grant we get from the national government. The equitable share is very small — less than R2bn for infrastructure refurbishing and renovating — but we have already made a huge difference. Just go to Bertha Gxowa Hospital, and you will see the best hospital. Go to Mamelodi — it’s competing with private hospitals … So there are changes. They may not be as [impressive] as you [would like], but we are definitely getting there.

“We are changing the face of our clinics. There are now doctors on site, not just doctors who come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There has been a huge improvement, but unfortunately … Gautengers don’t appreciate that. They don’t see it, but at some stage they will.”