The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched multiple investigations into allegations that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, led by MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi, is failing to provide medication in state hospitals.
This is contained in a response sent by the Commission to ActionSA provincial chairperson Zwakele Mncwango.
Mncwango lodged a complaint after he was tipped off by concerned hospital staff and patients that were turned back from hospitals empty handed and told to buy medication in expensive private pharmacies.
“We confirm further that your complaint was incorporated into our “own initiative’’ investigation which was already underway at the time that we had received your complaint.
“We further wish to update you that correspondence relating to the details of your complaint was included in communication from the Commission to the Department of Health for their response on the matter,” reads the HRC letter.
The Commission also divulged to Mncwango that there were other complaints about the same matter and they would be investigated jointly.
“We have received further complaints on the matter and have been assessing and incorporating those into the Commission’s own initiative investigation as indicated above,” the Commission told Mncwango.
When Mncwango raised the matter last month and media houses like African Times reported about the shortage of drugs, Simelane-Mngadi and her officials rubbished the reports as “fake news” and staged campaigns to mislead the public.
They took selected media to hospitals with better stock levels and claimed all was well. This was while hospitals like General Gizenga in Stanger, St Benedictine in Nongoma and Mosvold in Ingwavuma were without stock of medication.
In a u-turn after the probe started, the KwaZulu-Natal health department has since asked the Human Rights Commission to extend the deadline for it to provide answers regarding the shortage. This is contained in the same letter the Commission wrote to Mncwango.
“We have received correspondence from the Department of Health requesting an extension of
the deadline that we had set for their response. The correspondence from the Department cited technical challenges on their part which led to the late receipt of our correspondence.”
“Our office is amenable in granting a short extension to the Department as there are additional allegations that have been made by others, which will also require a response from the Department,” reads the letter.
