By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The outgoing Health Ombudsman, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, announced on Wednesday that his office completed 10 861 complaints in the past seven years.
Makgoba, who was South Africa’s first Health Ombud, was appointed in June 2016.
He is due to leave office when his term expires on Wednesday.
“One of the principles of my office is that it had to be independent. I was appointed by (then Health) Minister Motsoaledi, followed by Zweli Mkhize, at the time the current minister was the deputy minister and I reported to all of them. I want to emphasise that none of this ever interfered with my investigations, findings or recommendations as a health ombud, “said Makgoba.
During his seven-year term, Makgoba said he investigated more than 10,000 cases.
“In the seven years that this office has been established and out of 10 861 cases, there have been appeals, court challenges of our findings and recommendations but none of the appeals have succeeded and there is no report that we have produced that has been set aside either by the courts or the tribunal.”
Makgoba said, the Life Esidimeni Tragedy — which probed the circumstances surrounding the deaths of mentally ill patients — has become the standard on how a Health Ombud conducts investigations.
“I often said to my team, you must focus on quality. The high-profile cases have taken us six months to investigate, and we can’t say, because these [Life Esidimeni] senior officials aren’t in jail, there haven’t been any consequences.
“There have been many consequences from the report, with senior officials losing their jobs and reputation.”
Currently, an inquest is underway at the Pretoria High Court that will determine whether anyone can be held criminally liable for the death of 141 mental healthcare patients after being transferred to unlicensed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Life Esidimeni facilities.
Makgoba highlighted the Eastern Cape and Gauteng as the two most dysfunctional provinces when it comes to healthcare.
Half of the complaints the office dealt with came from Gauteng.
Makgoba said in order to avoid collapsing departments we need to review the criteria for selecting leaders.
“The criteria for appointing leadership of hospitals is the weakest. Now how do you expect hospitals to have CEOs that have such low criteria when this should be the thorough bread of the system because it is upon them that the MEC and premier depend on to deliver health services.”