Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo will be paying unannounced visits to 10 hospitals that continue to feature in the headlines for poorly serving communities.
The visits, which kick off today, aim to check progress in service delivery improvements in the 10 hospitals.
During the visits, Dhlomo will get an opportunity to speak to the patients and hear their concerns.
He will also address management and staff on the importance of the fast tracking service delivery improvements.
Dhlomo will further remind nurses, in particular, about the Nurses Compact Declaration that was adopted at the recent Nursing Summit, where there was a joint commitment to improving the delivery of healthcare services, especially maternal and child care.
The visits follows the meeting between Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, health MECs and all hospital CEOs held towards the end of 2009 and in the beginning of 2010 to give them directives on areas where immediate improvements are expected.
"Among these [improvements] was reduction of long queues, provision of medicines in time, cleanliness, walk-about by management, improvement of staff attitudes and safety and security in hospitals," department spokesperson, Chris Maxon, explained.
Today Dhlomo is expected to visit the RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, where a number of people continue to raise service delivery concerns despite Dhlomo's meeting with CEOs, where they were directed to fast track improvements.
