Critics raise alarm over leadership issues at Gauteng health department
Several opposition politicians and commentators have flagged what appears to be chronic leadership problems at the Gauteng Department of Health. Ufrieda Ho reports.
Signed and stalled: Critical healthcare deal in Gauteng teetering on the brink
An extended impasse over a vital agreement for training and improved hospital management between the Gauteng Department of Health and Wits University remains derailed, despite behind the scenes efforts to get it back on track, reports Ufrieda Ho.
Highrises, hellholes and healthcare – Hillbrow’s heritage story
Hillbrow started out as Johannesburg’s first health hub in the late 1880s. It’s also been a suburb associated with pimps and prostitution, a middle finger to the Nationalist Party, and a key site of the HIV crisis. Today, it’s the forgotten flatlands of inner city decay … but in small pockets it stays true to its heritage of bringing healthcare to the city’s most overlooked.
Nelson Mandela Bay clinics under siege as crime threatens healthcare
A series of robberies at healthcare facilities in the Eastern Cape has disrupted services, with patients sometimes left waiting outside while clinics limit the number of people allowed in. This follows the provincial health department spending over R700 million on security contracts in the past financial year, reports Luvuyo Mehlwana.
All the Premier’s HODs: High-stakes head of health post trapped in a merry-go-round
The Northern Cape health department has had several heads of department in the last five years. Spotlight unpacks the implications of this leadership instability and asks what it means for good governance in the public health sector.
Sister Leonie Weyers is injecting smiles in a setting where many spirits are hurt
The only full-time nurse at the Saartjie Baartman Centre, Sister Leonie Weyers, is not only a caregiver to her patients but also helps them to “feel beautiful” again. Biénne Huisman spent time with her at the shelter situated on gang-war turf in Manenberg.
Dr Nikki Allorto is one of the only surgeons in KZN doing skin grafting – and she does powerlifting to keep her heart strong
Burn injury has been described as the forgotten global public health crisis. Dr Nikki Allorto says that while it may be a neglected issue in South Africa, she is making sure her patients feel seen, heard and cared for. Sue Segar spent time with her on ward and clinic rounds at Greys Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.
Vivacious sister Sandra Bryant has a disco ball in her lilac clinic in Cape Town
Sister Sandra Bryant runs her clinic in a lilac painted room, where glitter cream and a disco ball does not seem out of place next to scissors, syringes, and needles. She tells Spotlight’s Biénne Huisman about working with Professor Christiaan Barnard, the adrenaline of being in the operating theater, and why she has a tattoo of an anatomical heart.
Eye health services in the public sector are critically impaired – it is high time the health department responds
Despite South Africa producing a substantial number of trained optometrists, the majority of them work in the private sector and in urban areas. This imbalance leaves rural communities underserved and exacerbates health inequities. Does it make sense for us to use public funds and institutions to train people predominantly for the private sector, ask Dr Haseena Majid and Rene Sparks.
New Western Cape health MEC Mireille Wenger says child health is near her heart
Mireille Wenger was recently appointed to the Western Cape’s top health job. Biénne Huisman chatted to Wenger about health policy, child health, and the challenge of providing quality public health services at a time of shrinking budgets.
EDITORIAL | Behind the Life Esidimeni headlines is the suffering of human beings who deserved better
While we focus here on the nine deaths that Judge Mmonoa Teffo found to be unnatural, there were 144 deaths associated with the Life Esidimeni tragedy. Ultimately, these were human beings and for the world to know what happened to them is better than the world not knowing.
Face to face: Healthcare veteran Kgosi Letlape on leaving the ANC, serving in parliament, and the tragic loss of his daughter
Former ANC member, now with ActionSA, Kgosi Letlape was recently elected to parliament’s health committee. Biénne Huisman spoke to the past president of the Health Professions Council of SA about leaving the ANC, healthcare in the country, gender-based violence, and the murder of his daughter.