Nkhensani Hospital has not had a permanent CEO in 10 years.
Filthy conditions, a shortage of warm water, a broken emergency communications system, and unresolved complaints from nurses are some of the adversities being faced by both patients and healthcare workers at Nkhensani hospital in Giyani, Limpopo.
The root cause
According to healthcare workers stationed at the hospital, the woes at the public facility are fuelled by a lack of leadership. For the past eight years, the hospital has not had a permanent CEO. Five individuals have, in ten years, acted as CEOs on a temporary basis but were never permanently appointed.
The Limpopo department of health has blamed a lack of suitable candidates as the main reason for not appointing a permanent CEO. The CEO position has been vacant since 2016 following the removal of Themba Mhlanga.
“We are leaderless at this hospital and everyone does what they want; hence everything is a mess at Nkhensani. I can confidently tell that at night, patients at this hospital bath using cold water as warm water gets finished in the early hours of the morning; and the kitchen does not operate during the night and those who want tea or coffee are always left wanting,” said a staff nurse stationed at Nkhensani hospital.
Lives of patients at risk
The nurse further said that the hospital is filthy and rarely cleaned: “This hospital is never cleaned, we often go for days without it being cleaned and no one cares and cleaners are also never reprimanded as there is no one to reprimand them and they do as they like. This puts the lives of patients and healthcare workers at risk.”
The emergency communications system has not been working for months at the hospital and nurses are forced to use their personal cell phones during emergencies. “Alerting doctors of emergencies at this hospital has become extra difficult as we have to use our own personal cell phones because the hospital does not have a working emergency dial; it has not been working for months. What if I do not have airtime and a patient is in need of a doctor urgently? It might lead to an avoidable death of a patient,” she said.
The nurse also told Elitsha that she has personally raised most of these issues with previous acting CEOs but nothing has ever been done to address her concerns. “Even if you complain to those superior to you, nothing is ever done to address your concerns. No one is prepared to take responsibility and all this has got to do with the lack of leadership at Nkhensani hospital,” she said.
Derrick Mashaba, a local community member in Giyani residing about 2 kilometres away from Nkhensani, told Elitsha that he has witnessed the tumble of the hospital over the past decade. “We have witnessed the fall of our precious hospital over the past ten years. We have seen overcrowding, dilapidating buildings, shortage of water and lack of leadership, and all this has contributed to the fall of the mighty hospital,” said Mashaba.
It hurts him to see the fall of the hospital which is so close to his home. “This is a district hospital and it is supposed to be the best in our region but it is not being prioritised. A hospital as big as this one cannot operate without a permanent CEO; it is wrong and it is something which is supposed to be addressed immediately,” he said.
Limpopo health spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana said that the department is working towards appointing a permanent CEO. “The recruitment process is underway and an acting CEO has been appointed to ensure continuity during this process,” he said.
en