More than 1,200 doctors, nurses and other health workers in the Western Cape have signed an open letter to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Prime Minister Alan Winde and Treasurer Mireille Wenger, calling for a “catastrophic crisis” in the provincial sector. ” called for an end to budget cuts.
National Treasury has cut the health budget at the beginning of 2023/24, introduced further cuts midway through the year and recommended a freeze on recruitment for new posts. Local ministries were also directed to absorb the costs of public sector wage increases for which they do not have the financial resources.
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On Monday, National Health Ministry Deputy Minister Sibongiseni Dlomo told unemployed doctors protesting in Pietermaritzburg that the Ministry of Health would take the issue of budget cuts to parliament this week and request exemptions from medical fees. He said he plans to ask for it.
GroundUp also reported in January that the Western Cape's two largest hospitals, Groote Schuur Hospital and Red Cross Children's Hospital, were facing severe staff shortages.
Read: Western Cape's biggest hospital warns of hiring freeze
State health system 'destabilized'
An open letter sent by health workers in the Western Cape states that the province's health system has been left “indiscriminately frozen with virtually all clinical and non-clinical posts, nursing overtime and government funding frozen. It has been stabilized.
“The reduction in positions will include nurses, doctors, general assistants, clerks, physical therapists, radiographers, porters, occupational therapists, dentists, and others who provide desperately needed medical care to the nation today and tomorrow for the foreseeable future. It means fewer experts.”
The hiring freeze has left key medical positions vacant as doctors resign or complete training.
Listen/Read: There are 800 doctors, but the government hospital does not employ them.
Healthcare workers say the cuts will reduce operating room lists, postpone or cancel surgeries, reduce available hospital beds and increase wait times for patients needing specialized care, and increase wait times for patients in need of specialized care. This means that medical services (treatment) will be delayed. This means, among many other issues, that cancers are diagnosed at later stages, treatment is less likely to be successful, and the gains in neonatal, infant, and pediatric care are “reversed.”
Currently employed health care workers will be required to work harder and longer hours to fill the gap, which could lead to “mistakes due to sleep deprivation, burnout, and fatigue,” the letter said. That's what it means.
Budget cuts would be devastating.”
Winde and Wenger responded to the open letter in a joint statement on February 7th.
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In a statement, Wenger and Winde agreed that the “state-imposed” budget cuts were “devastating” and, beyond health services, “have hit education and social development services.”
“This is exactly what the Western Cape government warned about and is now fighting to prevent and reverse,” the statement said.
The Western Cape government will face cuts of R6.7 billion over the next three years.
Winde and Wenger said these cuts exceed the budgets for the state departments of Community Safety, Economic Development, Cultural Affairs and Sports combined.
In November, the state government declared an intergovernmental dispute with the central government over the cuts. Mediation regarding this matter is currently ongoing.
Asked to respond to the open letter, the Treasury told GroundUp that the 2024/25 budget, to be tabled on February 21, will provide some guidance.
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© 2024 GroundUp. This article was originally published here.