By OBAKENG MAJE
20 May 2025- The North West Department of Health is under scrutiny after patients were found sleeping on the benches and floors at Ganyesa District Hospital. It is alleged that some of the waiting patients have chronic diseases.
One of the community members in Ganyesa, who refused to be named for fear of reprisal said, he believes that the North West Department of Health is at the ‘brink of collapse’ because this has been going on for a long time. He further said what is happening is uncalled for and the hospital management seems not to care.
“Patients continue to be subjected to harsher treatment at the hospital and nothing is being done. We call on the North West MEC for Health, Sello Lehari to launch a high level investigation into the matter.
“These patients have left their homes and come here so that they can be reviewed. Even though the hospital provides transport for them to go to tertiary hospitals, I think it must also provide them with beds to sleep in when waiting overnight for transport to other hospitals,” he added.
Meanwhile, the North West Department of Health spokesperson, Tshegofatso Mothibedi said following a concern raised on social media related to patients sleeping on the floor, while awaiting transportation to Klerksdorp, the facility managed to source out 30 beds and 60 blankets to be utilized by these patients. Mothibedi said the Nursing Manager responsible for the night shift will supervise the process daily and report in the morning during handover.
“The institution would like to report that the reason for accommodating patients in the Outpatient Department (OPD) is that the identified area for overnight stay was damaged by fire on 30 November 2024, and is currently under renovation. So, due to limited space overnight, the patients await OPD and arrangements have been made for accommodation of patients from 13 May 2025,” he said.
The Guardian 