{"id":95193,"date":"2025-02-17T22:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T20:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=95193"},"modified":"2025-02-17T22:41:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T20:41:00","slug":"gauteng-health-crisis-1180-critical-posts-remain-unfilled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/gauteng-health-crisis-1180-critical-posts-remain-unfilled\/","title":{"rendered":"Gauteng Health Crisis: 1,180 Critical Posts Remain Unfilled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

3-minute read<\/strong>
\n17 February 2025 | 19:15 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

Patients suffer as Treasury refuses to fund 1180 Gauteng hospital posts: DA<\/p><\/div>\n

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is demanding urgent action after National Treasury refused the Gauteng Health Department\u2019s request for R291 million to fill 1,180 critical vacancies. This decision leaves thousands of hospital patients facing prolonged suffering due to severe staff shortages.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s presentation to the Gauteng Legislature\u2019s Health Committee last week revealed an ongoing crisis, with critical posts such as professional nurses, heads of departments, and unit heads remaining unfilled. \u201cChris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, for instance, doesn\u2019t have a head of surgery,\u201d DA\u2019s Jack Bloom told Radio Islam International<\/a>. \u201cIt is absolutely alarming that we lack proper clinical leadership in our hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the department\u2019s urgent request for additional funds, Treasury rejected the appeal, citing extensive financial mismanagement, wasteful spending, and corruption within Gauteng\u2019s healthcare system. The province\u2019s health budget stands at R65 billion, yet the department is already facing a R4.8 billion deficit, with unpaid suppliers and hospitals struggling to maintain essential services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real victims of this mismanagement are the patients,\u201d Bloom stated. \u201cPeople are waiting years for life-changing surgeries, only to have them cancelled due to a lack of air conditioning or clean linen. It\u2019s intolerable.\u201d The DA has called for the immediate dismissal of Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko and Head of Department Lucinda Malatji, arguing that new leadership is the only way to rectify the department\u2019s failures.<\/p>\n

Treasury\u2019s decision was also influenced by the department\u2019s failure to utilize allocated funds effectively. \u201cThere\u2019s R261 million meant for cancer radiation treatment that won\u2019t be spent this year,\u201d Bloom highlighted. \u201cLast year, R250 million for cancer patients also went unused. Treasury sees this and refuses to inject more money into a system riddled with inefficiency and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the National Health Insurance (NHI) debate continues, concerns grow over Gauteng\u2019s ability to manage a significantly expanded public healthcare system. \u201cIf the province can\u2019t manage its current health budget, how will it handle NHI?\u201d Bloom questioned. \u201cThe only public health department with a clean audit report is in the Western Cape, while the rest are in crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DA is calling on Premier Panyaza Lesufi to take decisive action to prevent the collapse of the province\u2019s healthcare system. Without urgent intervention, the situation is expected to worsen, leaving patients to bear the brunt of the government\u2019s mismanagement.<\/p>\n

Listen to the full interview with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Jack Bloom on The Daily Round-Up<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 17 February 2025 | 19:15 CAT The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is demanding urgent action after National Treasury refused the Gauteng Health Department\u2019s request for R291 million to fill 1,180 critical vacancies. This decision leaves thousands of hospital patients facing prolonged suffering due to severe staff shortages. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":95194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Funding-300x158-1.png?fit=300%2C158&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-oLn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 11:49:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}