Mahikeng Hospital stifled by staff shortages: Public Protector

Deputy Public Protector Adv Dinkie Dube uncovered significant staff shortages and infrastructure challenges during an unannounced visit to Mahikeng Provincial Hospital in North West. She interacted with hospital management, staff, and patients, hearing concerns about a lack of skilled personnel, aging facilities, and long waiting periods for healthcare services.

This visit is part of the Public Protector's Good Governance Month campaign, which aims to promote accountability and enhance service delivery in state institutions. Dube explained, "We are visiting the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital to really see the state of healthcare and because it's the major hospital for the province. We are seeing that the other feeder hospitals would refer patients here, so we wanted really to test what is the quality of healthcare here."

One patient shared their experience, saying, "Sometimes they come at nine o'clock and they are only attended at one, and even after they have opened the file, then the file gets lost." Dube also noted issues with records management and file handling, as well as the continued use of a manual system, which she identified as another area requiring attention.

Hospital CEO Motlalepula Maikepa echoed the concerns, expressing the need for hospital expansion due to a growing population and insufficient infrastructure. Maikepa stated, "The population is growing, the infrastructure is not growing, so we need expansion of this hospital because the capacity that is holding is too little." She added, "It is not able to accommodate the current status of the population of Ngaka Modiri Molema, so if we can have an expansion of this hospital, remember it is more than 58 years old.

The hospital is old… so our humble wish is to have an expansion so that we can be able to cater for our communities."