Johannesburg – Nurses are usually blamed for the Eastern Cape’s health department’s problems, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) said on Thursday.

Denosa is set to join a march, demanding improved services.

“For a long time now, and with consistency, the province has been embattled with, among others, gross staff shortages, shortage of equipment, medication and lack of support for health workers,” Denosa Eastern Cape secretary Koliswa Tota said in a statement.

“As the backbone and face of the health care system, it has become a norm for nurses to get blamed as a result of these challenges.”

Denosa planned to join a march by the Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition to Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana’s office in Bisho, to hand over a memorandum demanding improved services.

“Having just signed the service charter… which is a commitment to quality public service by both employees and employer, Denosa joins this march in line with its commitment to quality health service and under the spirit of a positive practice environment for health workers to render quality service, which is currently not the case in the Eastern Cape,” Tota said.

Earlier, the Eastern Cape health department dismissed allegations by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Section 27 that the province’s health system was collapsing.

The TAC and Section 27 released a detailed report on Wednesday on the health system in the Eastern Cape.

‘Distorted’ report

The department’s spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the report was full of distortions and old issues, which had been resolved.

“The issue of drugs was addressed,” he said.

Kupelo denied allegations that the province had a high staff vacancy rate.

He said the department continued producing nurses through its internal nursing college, and doctors were deployed where they were needed.

The report described hampered service delivery as a result of the poor state of health care facilities.

Kupelo said six hospitals were being demolished to be rebuilt in Transkei and that a gateway clinic was being built at a cost of R38m near Elliotdale.

More than 50 corrupt officials were fired last year and those doing business with the department were being investigated by the Treasury, Kupelo said.

The report found that the mismanagement of funds was the department’s underlying problem, and that more than R1bn had been overspent by the department in the 2011/2012 financial year.

– SAPA