View Document - Parliament of South Africa

117 TUESDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2008
118
Whether any wards were closed in 2007;
if so, (a) why, (b) in which hospitals, (c)
how many beds were involved in each
closure and (d) what steps are being taken
to remedy the situation?
The MINISTER OF HEALTH:
Free State
NW1840E
No, no wards were closed in 2007.
(a), (b), (c) and (d) Fall away.
Gauteng
No hospital wards were closed during the
period in question.
Northern Cape:
Yes
(a) Due to a shortage of professional
nurses and doctors two wards were
closed down.
(b) Alexander Bay Hospital in the
(c)
Namakwa District.
27 beds.
(d) Alexander Bay Hospital has become a
CHC with six beds. The submission for
the filling of three professional nurses
posts has been approved and the department
is also trying to recruit a doctor to
service this facility.
Western Cape
A total of 90 ‘‘beds’’ were closed in the
Western Cape during 2007.
(a) The beds were closed due to financial
pressure and in the face of this pressure
the need to prioritise health services at
the district level.
(b) Groote Schuur and Tygerberg tertiary
hospitals.
(c) 30 beds at Tygerberg Hospital (TBH)
and 60 beds at Groote Schuur Hospital
(GSH).
(d) Ten of the 60 beds closed at GSH were
relocated to the Maitland Cottage
Home which is also part of the Provincial
Department of Health under the
management of Red Cross Children’s
Hospital. This was a complete relocation
with the entire service shifting to
Maitland Cottage (MC) in order to
improve the very low occupancies that
had been identified at MC 27 of the 60
beds at GSH were private beds and
private patients are admitted to the
appropriate general ward at GSH.
Private patients in TBH were easily
absorbed into the second private ward.
The services in the beds identified for
closure were absorbed into adult general
services. Although beds were
closed, the patient outputs largely remained
constant due to increased efficiencies.
Strenuous efforts were made to obtain
additional funding for the 2008-09 financial
year and as a result the beds
have been reopened albeit in a different
configuration during 2008.
Nurses qualifying
1117. Mrs S V KALYAN (DA) asked the
Minister of Health:
(1) How many nurses qualified in each
nursing category in (a) public and (b)
private training facilities in each of
the past three financial years for
which information is available;
(2) whether any quota applies to the
number of nurses who can be trained
by the public sector in each year; if
so, (a) what quotas currently apply
and (b) what are the reasons for these
quotas;
(3) whether any processes are under way
to amend or remove these quotas; if
not, what is the position in this
regard; if so, what are the relevant
details? NW1854E