Two senior officials have returned to the Northern Cape Department of Health following suspension, but the department remains without a permanent head. Opposition parties and trade union DENOSA have expressed concern over the impact the leadership instability is having on healthcare services in the province. Refilwe Mochoari reports.
The headline-making persecution of paediatrician Dr Tim de Maayer is part of a wider trend whereby principled public sector healthcare workers are often abandoned to the whims of managers who are vindictive, incompetent, or both. Add the slow movement on South Africa’s healthcare worker policy, the poor management of the Health Professions Council, and the short shrift given to healthcare workers’ concerns about National Health Insurance, and the picture that emerges makes a mockery of government’s talk of valuing healthcare workers.
One of the great paradoxes in healthcare in South Africa is that, while we have impressive healthcare expertise in the country, most of our provincial health departments are poorly managed. Spotlight editor Marcus Low considers what this means for efforts to build state capacity in general, and for healthcare in particular.
Clinic Committees can be a powerful link between the community and primary healthcare facilities. Several clinic committee members however say they have been side-lined in South Africa’s COVID-19 response. Tiyese Jeranji reports.
