The world’s third largest hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, is running out of food for patients, forcing doctors to find ways of feeding their own patients.
The Star understands that hospital staff morale is at its lowest, with health-care workers carrying the burden of clinical duties and catering services for patients.
Some charity organisations were also donating food to the hospital while some doctors were running projects that would enable them to feed their patients. Bara receives an annual budget of about R3 billion. This is more than what some provincial health departments receive.
On a normal day, patients at Bara get bread and tea for breakfast. This would then be followed by lunch in the afternoon, which would mostly be chicken stew and pap. In most instances, patients’ families would bring their family members food from home.
DA spokesperson for health in Gauteng Jack Bloom said the hospital was running out of food such as fish, chicken and other meat. The shocking thing was there has been a bread shortage for the last two weeks. He blamed this on the non-payment of contractors.
“Food is running out at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital because of contract mismanagement and non-payment of suppliers. There has been no bread for the past two weeks and some doctors and nurses have taken in food to feed starving patients. Donors have also been asked to provide food for the hospital.”
Bloom said in the past there had been allegations of hospital meat being stolen. He said more should be done to ensure that patients get full service while in hospital, including a balanced meal with dessert – a service which the state is already paying for.
“A number of food contracts have expired so requests for quotations are used to fill the gap in a haphazard way that has lead to shortages of meat, chicken and fish despite paying higher prices.”
To make matters worse, health-care workers picketed outside the hospital yesterday, complaining about a provincial government decision forcing the hospital to let go of at least 400 workers, including doctors and nurses.
The hospital had increased staff intake during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic because of the increase in the number of infections in the province. Health-care workers told The Star that the hospital was still insufficiently staffed and that letting go of some clinicians would further exacerbate matters at the hospital.
The chairperson of the Chris Hani medical advisory committee, Billy Ramokgopa, said medical staff were dismayed by the lack of appreciation by the Gauteng Health authorities of the deteriorating critical service needs at the hospital.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and the current diversion of patients from the partially closed Charlotte Maxeke Hospital compounded by the chronic staff shortage and appealing poor logistical support has placed Bara under tremendous pressure. This poses a serious risk and compromises the indigent patients,“ Ramokgopa said.
Not only is Bara affected by poor administration, but there is a stench in the air around the hospital premises because of medical waste that has not been collected in days. The Star understands that some of it includes human waste and other organic material and needles.
A source at the hospital said bags of medical waste were piling up and not being attended to. The Star was supplied with the photos of the waste. It is understood that this is another case of a contractor not being paid and leaving the hospital to make a plan with the medical waste.
“This has effects on patients and staff. We do not understand why this medical waste has not been fetched in over a week,“ the source said.
The EFF said it was shocked that a hospital as big as Bara was unable to feed patients. The EFF called on Health Minister Joe Phaahla to account for what has been transpiring at the hospital.
A spokesperson for the Gauteng Health Department, Kwara Kekana, told The Star the hospital had no problem with food shortage. She said there was an issue with the supply of bread but that had been resolved. This is despite some doctors carrying posters demanding food for patients.
Kekana also said the waste removal service had resumed and that it was a temporary disruption. Regarding the laying off of some staff, she said the department could not afford to keep the staff on as workers at Bara because of budget constraints.