Representatives from the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital met with the community health projects and traditional leadership in the Sinthumule and Kutama area for an accountability summit at an event held at the Ravele Community Hall last Friday.

Dr Irene Malatjie, the hospital's CEO, encouraged people to visit local clinics instead of going to the Memorial Hospital in order to avoid congestion at the hospital. “Patients must visit the hospital upon receiving a referral letter from the clinic,” she said.

There are currently 74 vacant posts at the hospital, 18 of which are professional nurses’ posts. “Any professional nurse who needs a job must submit their CV's urgently,” she said. “Due to budget constraints, we hadn't filled all posts in the previous financial year.”

She added that there are currently 14 doctors who will be visiting the clinics on a daily basis from now onwards.

In the 2012/2013 financial year, the hospital's annual target for outpatients was 32046, but the hospital was able to assist 50999. The number of deliveries (birth cases) also exceeded the annual target of 1 463 by 188. “We are awaiting the delivery of a maternity park home from the national Department of Health,” she stated.

At times drugs were out of stock at the depot and the hospital had to borrow drugs from other institutions in Mpumalanga.

Buysdorp's Clinic Committee member, Mr Gilbert Lawrence said that the doctor last visited the area in September last year and that the mobile clinic only comes once a month. “You can't tell us to seek referral letters first when the mobile clinic only comes to us once in a month,” said Lawrence. “Who's going to give us the referral letter? We request an exception to be made for us on this issue of referral letters.”

Malatjie said that from now onwards the mobile clinic will visit Buysdorp twice in a month, and that she will still look into the request of exception on referral letters.

The Buysdorp community further voiced their disappointment about the lack of water at the Memorial Hospital, where patients and visitors sometimes use toilets without water. “We risk our health and contracting many contagious sicknesses,” said one elderly resident. He suggested that the hospital must erect at least two 10 000 litre tanks for storing water.

Khosi Rudzani Sinthumule lauded Malatjie for interacting with the community on issues relating to health services in the hospital and clinics. “You're the first CEO of the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital to hold a summit where residents could freely voice their concerns regarding health matters,” he said.

He then decried the department's oversight in not inviting the general community members and the sick to raise concerns in persons instead of having health project co-ordinators represent them.