Western Cape Health MEC Theuns Botha says the province will not entertain the placing of hospitals under national control.
|||The Western Cape will not entertain the placing of Groote Schuur and Tygerberg hospitals under national control, says Health MEC Theuns Botha.
Botha was reacting to weekend news reports that the ANC draft policy document on health suggested the “nationalisation” of tertiary hospitals.
The documents will be discussed at the ANC policy conference in June.
Other hospitals said to be included are Chris Hani Baragwanath in Joburg and King Edward VII in Durban.
The documents are said to propose that major hospitals must serve populations beyond their areas, so they should be nationally run.
Two weeks ago, the national Health Department advertised chief executive positions in tertiary and regional hospitals in all provinces except the Western Cape.
At the time, Botha said the Western Cape already had competent chief executives.
“No consultation has taken place. The public, government and universities must be consulted. The tertiary hospitals are centres of excellence and provincial property,” he said on Sunday.
Asked what the implications would be if the hospitals were controlled nationally, he said they would be far-reaching and serious.
“Thousands of people work in these hospitals, service delivery will be affected, our budgets will be affected. The ANC just wants to nationalise everything. We form part of the Brics (the Brazil, Russia, India, China, SA bloc) and those countries are moving towards decentralising, while we go in the opposite direction,” he said.
sibusiso.nkomo@inl.co.za - Cape Argus
