SAHRC's legal officer, Thobile Sibanyoni, was joined by ActionSA members during the meeting with the hospital's CEO, followed by a vigorous site inspection to establish what progress had been made made since the initial complaint had been lodged by ActionSA. The complaints included concerns about hygiene, inadequate food for patients, unroofed corridors, not enough medication, a poor filing system, dysfunctional air conditioners, and poor maintenance of the building's infrastructure. As part of the investigation, the SAHRC conducted an unannounced visit to the hospital on January 25 when it found that there were not enough emergency vehicles, no filing system which had resulted in long queues by patients, there was no air conditioning, and there were not enough medicine. "This is a process that started in 2022 and we are happy to see it has unfolded the way it has. We wrote to the department about our findings and they wrote back to us. They made commitments and suggested plans how to address these issues. We gave them until June to ensure that everything is sorted, and we are happy with the progress they have made so far and believe that there is still more we are yet to see. "The hospital has improved immensely on its filing system, to a point where there were no patients are queuing in the afternoons. We have also visited their pharmacy and on face value everything seems to have improved. They have shown us their records and assured us that they have enough essential medicine. The hospital is clean and we have interviewed the patients who confirmed that the food is nice and they get their meals on time," said the SAHRC's Thobile Sibanyoni. Even though the hospital might have managed to impress the commission, there are some issues that had fallen behind. "The problem of air conditioning is still not addressed, lighting in general is a problem with most of them dysfunctional. We are still going to write to the department to follow up every concern to the end. Ours is to ensure that the rights of South Africans are protected and they receive proper care with dignity," said Sibanyoni. ActionSA's regional chairperson, Norman Sibitane, said they are happy about the progress made by the hospital and that they will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that every issue is addressed. "One of the things we have noticed is never addressed, is the lack of resources and also the employees are relaxed because there are no regular inspections. So many of these issues would have been prevented if the hospital had been inspected monthly to make sure that everything is in check and patients are receiving proper care. We have noted all the updates we received from the CEO and we are satisfied so far, the hospital is clean, the ablutions are functioning properly, and the patients are happy with the food. We will, however, ensure that the other outstanding issues are addressed as well," said Sibitane.

Mpumalanga News