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Having hit the ground running from his first day in office, Gauteng’s new health MEC is determined to get the basics right.
It has been a busy month for Gauteng’s new health MEC, Bandile Masuku. “Even describing it as hectic,” he says, “is an understatement.”
He is not wrong. Take a look at the shocking headlines that made this week’s health news:
A few days ago, it was reported that a 45-year-old woman in labour was allegedly turned away from the Stanza Bopape Clinic in Mamelodi, eastern Pretoria, and ended up having to give birth just outside the clinic – because nurses allegedly told her that she was a high-risk patient because of her age.
In another incident this week, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) decided to withdraw its nurses from night-shift duty at Phola Park Clinic in Thokoza, Ekurhuleni, after three men charged into the clinic brandishing knives. They were in search of another man who had been stabbed earlier and were allegedly there to “finish him off”.
Also this week, a video emerged on social media of three men viciously attacking a patient at South Rand Hospital in Gauteng. The incident was allegedly filmed by frightened hospital staff who had taken cover behind a burglar gate barricade.
In May, 43-year-old Masuku was appointed as the new provincial MEC for health by Gauteng premier David Makhura, taking over from his predecessor, Gwen Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa had been brought into the ailing department in February 2017 in an effort to stabilise it, following the release of a damning report by health ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba. It found that 143 mentally ill patients died after being moved from healthcare facility Life Esidimeni to ill-equipped nongovernmental organisations. The tragedy had occurred under the watch of former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, who resigned in the wake of the controversy.
Masuku has inherited a department beleaguered with a host of historical and new problems. And from day one in office, he has hit the ground running, responding to one crisis after the next. The first was the shameful incident in May, when a 76-year-old Eersterust woman, Martha Marais, was found by family members tied to a steel bench at Mamelodi Hospital and left to lie on the floor.
Speaking to City Press at the Gauteng legislature, before going to Stanza Bopape Clinic to follow up on this week’s scandal over the woman in labour, Masuku admitted to initially feeling intimidated when asked to assume the position of health MEC.
“When told of my appointment, I was intimidated by the sheer nature and complexity of the health sector. I knew there were many challenges; they have been covered extensively in the media. Also, I have worked in the system since I qualified, so I understand the challenges, and was intimidated because of my understanding of the overwhelming need in the sector,” he said.
Before his current position, Masuku, a married father of three boys, was head of the obstetrics and gynaecology unit at Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital in Vosloorus. He has a long history of working at both academic and regional hospitals in Gauteng.
He comes with activist credentials. He was a leader of the Congress of SA Students while in high school in Soweto, and an active member of the SA Students Congress (Sasco) while studying at the then Medical University of Southern Africa (now Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University). He headed the university’s Student Representative Council in 1999, and was elected national president of Sasco in 2002.
Why did he study obstetrics?
“I chose obstetrics as a medical student in my third year. I came to enjoy it and found it relatable as it combined two aspects of medicine: I could treat a patient both medically and surgically.”
Masuku completed his master’s in obstetrics in 2015 but had been working in public health all along – as a senior medical officer at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (Bara), while also running a special antenatal clinic for women expecting twins. He ran the clinic for five years, from 2011 to 2016.
As a result, Bara is on his list of facilities that will be renewed under his leadership of the health department. He also aims to upgrade reproductive health services for women and young girls – a subject close to his heart, given his background in gynaecology. And he intends to ensure that more access is provided to those needing emergency contraception and termination of pregnancy services. In this regard, he is hoping to collaborate with civil society organisations.
Masuku wants to change people’s experience of medical services in the province.
“The clinical and clinic experience of patients in our facilities is one of the key things we need to focus on. It needs an upgrade. We need to reduce waiting times for patients – not only for them to see the doctor or nurse in good time, but also to ensure they receive their medicines and are operated on timeously.
“Another key focus area is on keeping our facilities refurbished: the look and feel of our facilities must promote health and make you feel better just by entering the system. And thirdly, staff morale is high on the priority list. When you have a happy nurse or doctor, your experience of a care facility is enhanced. We want to uplift our staff, give recognition where it is due, correct where we need to and learn from those issues.”
He says the department also plans on starting a wide-scale programme to inform the public about how the health system works.
Regarding mental health, Masuku is intent on ensuring that the recommendations in the health ombud’s report, as well as those from the Life Esidimeni arbitration proceedings, are implemented.
He clarifies the call made by Makhura earlier this week for the province’s four academic hospitals – Charlotte Maxeke, Bara, Steve Biko and Dr George Mukhari hospitals – to be the responsibility of national government.
“These hospitals serve not only Gauteng residents, but citizens countrywide and those from our neighbouring states, too. In terms of funding, it becomes unfair that the provincial budget is used to run those hospitals when they serve the entire nation.
“We are not saying that when the funding comes from national government, we will stop running these institutions. They will be part of our ecosystem.
“These hospitals are training centres, which is a national mandate that isn’t normally carried out by provinces. So, this is not about us dumping them; rather, we need more money to be able to run them.”
Asked what kept him awake at night during his first month in office, Masuku says: “Social media – constantly wanting to keep abreast of what was being reported online about facilities, and rushing to respond to those issues.
“I must find a suitable way of managing my social media interaction,” he adds. “Even before becoming an MEC, I was quite active on social media and would respond to issues covered by the media. Now I respond by physically going to the scene of what has taken place
“In doing this, I want to show that this department will not resolve issues just from an office; it will do so by also going to where the problem is and seeing the full context for ourselves, while not stepping on the toes of managers. But we have to be there.”
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