Ambulance bases of shame
An ambulance base has to comply with a certain set of minimum requirements contained in among others the National Health Act. At the end of last year, the Department of…
Health4Sale Part 6: Magashule cleared way for controversial private ambulance company to cash in
Buthelezi EMS netted more than R15-million from two suspect back-dated price increases from the Free State Department of Health, apparently without much scrutiny.
Health4Sale part 5: Controversial private ambulance company in line for new Free State tender
A Gauteng-based ambulance operator, Buthelezi EMS, that is currently the subject of both Hawks and Treasury investigations has scored road and air ambulance contracts in the so-called Premier league provinces amounting to over a Billion Rand since 2013 and they are frontrunners to secure a lucrative new three year tender for Emergency Medical Services in the Free State.
North West doctors release open letter calling for end to closure of health services
Over 70 North West doctors have released an open letter expressing their concern over the impact the ongoing labour action is having on the delivery of health services.
Health4Sale Part 4: Buthelezi EMS running a taxi service, not an ambulance service – Doctors and nurses
Doctors and nurses in the Free State and North West have accused Buthelezi EMS, the private company contracted to run provincial ambulance services, of operating like a minibus taxi and “drop and go” service.
Health4Sale Response: Motsoaledi asks treasury to investigate Buthelezi EMS
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has asked treasury to investigate the procurement of ambulance services from Buthelezi EMS, a controversial private ambulance company that has been awarded large contracts in the Free State and North West.
Health4Sale Part 3: Mpumalanga department of health broke rules for controversial ambulance company
The Mpumalanga Department of Health has defied guidance from its provincial treasury and acted in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act in awarding a three-year contract to Buthelezi HEMS, a joint venture between a controversial private ambulance company called Buthelezi EMS and HALO Aviation. This has emerged from court documents obtained by Spotlight.
Health4Sale Part 2: NorthWest pays double for dubious private ambulance service
The North West health department has effectively outsourced the bulk of its emergency medical service to a private ambulance company who is submitting hugely inflated invoices every month with very little appetite by officials to stop the looting.
Spotlight joins the dots in this two-part investigative feature Health4Sale.
Health4Sale Part 1: North West blows HIV money on controversial private ambulance service
The North West Department of Health blew over R100-million expressly earmarked for HIV on two controversial private ambulance companies. Serious red flags are also raised by some of the invoices submitted by one of these companies.
Spotlight joins the dots in this two-part investigative feature Health4Sale.
Life Esidimeni Arbitration: Testimonies
SECTION27 is representing 66 families whose loved ones passed away as a result of the Marathon Project. The arbitration heard heartbreaking testimony from family members – represented separately by SECTION27, The Legal Aid Clinic and Solidarity – about the state in which they found their loved ones.
Deepening crisis at Pelonomi hospital
While healthcare workers in the Free State report theatre temperatures of 30 degrees Celcius, a halt to cancer biopsies, and an ongoing orthopaedic crisis, the provincial Department of Health insists that orthopaedic services and surgery are not collapsing.
Fifteen years without a wheelchair – who pays?
A volunteer healthcare worker tells the story of a young boy confined to his bed since he was a young child, as a result of the shortage of physiotherapists and occupational therapists in the rural Eastern Cape. This is a first-person account of the rigours of rural health care, in which it takes extraordinary effort to secure even the most basic services.