Note to editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Madeleine Hicklin MPL.
Patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital have been unable to receive their essential medicines due to ongoing shortages. For vulnerable patients with serious infections, every missed dose increases the risk of complications and could prove life-threatening.
The DA calls on Gauteng Health MEC Faith Mazibuko to urgently intervene to resolve the apparent shortage of essential medicines at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and to be transparent with the public about the extent of the problem.
The DA has received credible reports from concerned patients and their families calling for urgent intervention to prevent what could become a serious healthcare crisis at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
While hospital management admits that “certain brands have been unavailable and substitute brands have been allocated,” it denies that patients have gone without medication. However, patients and their families contradict this, reporting that they have not been able to access essential antibiotics.
The DA condemns the Gauteng Health Department’s tendency to hide behind semantics rather than confronting the reality facing patients. Whether a specific brand is unavailable or the required antibiotic is out of stock, the outcome is the same: patients are being denied timely treatment.
The DA is the only party committed to ensuring that all hospitals maintain adequate stock levels of essential medicines, strengthen supply chain management, and guarantee that patients receive the treatment they need, when they need it, without any excuses.