Minister spurred by late-night phone call

A Phone call from an upset resident in the middle of the night spurred the minister of Public Service and Administration to make an unannounced trip to a beleaguered Phoenix hospital.

Roy Padayachie visited the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Durban on Friday in an attempt to evaluate the extent of the challenges facing the institution.

The hospital's reputation has come under fire over the years for poor service delivery. In 2009, figures released by the provincial Department of Health showed there were 154 infant deaths at the hospital.

The minister's visit came after he received a phone call last year from a man whose wife had been involved in an accident but was turned away from the hospital by staff.

Padayachie said the man was understandably "irate" because he could not find out the extent of his wife's injuries.

He said it was through the process of assisting the man that he made the decision to visit the hospital.

Padayachie conducted a walkabout that lasted nearly 45 minutes, during which he visited different areas of the hospital, including a ward, the hospital pharmacy and the outpatient bay.

The minister was accompanied by the hospital's surprised CEO, Dr Prakash Dayaram, who has officially been in charge only since January this year.

Dayaram told the Sunday Times Extra he had been "shocked" to receive a visit from the ministerbut understood the need for it.

Padayachie stopped to talk to a number of patients who were waiting for medication or test results. One of them was Sagathaven Govender, 65, who told Padayachie that although the hospital was better than in the past, there was still room for improvement.

"Today they lost my file again. That happens all the time and we have to open a new one. We are pensioners and to sit here so long is hard," said Govender.

Another patient, Sumitra Gareeb, 66, said Padayachie's visit was a good development. "The service here is bad, I have been waiting for a week for my medication."

After the visit, Padayachie highlighted some of the issues facing hospital management. "The visit was not geared solely towards what is wrong with the hospital."

Mahatma Gandhi Hospital has 76 vacancies that need to be filled and a doctor-to-patient ratio of one:500.

But Padayachie said there were upsides as well, labelling the hospital's pharmacy the "shining star" of the institution.

"They have been able to reduce waiting time to 20 minutes from the time a patient gets into line to the time they receive their medication. This is thanks to the young men and women who are doing a fantastic job."