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The Bhisho Health Department has lashed out at the Eastern Cape Crisis Action Coalition following the release of a damning report on the state of health care in the province.
Department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, says many of the issues raised in the 17-page report by the NGO's Section 27 and Treatment Action Campaign, are being dealt with or have already been addressed.
Members of the coalition are planning a march to the Health Ministry in Bhisho on Friday to submit a memorandum calling on MEC, Sicelo Gqobana, to address their concerns about the state of health care in the province.
In an interview Kupelo acknowledged that there were challenges in health, but slated the report for not being objective.
"What we have seen in pictures displayed by this coalition is a total and delibarate distortion of the facts. The report is not objective at all" he said.
One of the issues raised in the coalition report related to the shortage of drugs, particularly in the former Transkei.
Kupelo said that issue dated back to last December when staff at a medicine depot in Mthatha went on a wild-cat strike resutling in shortages of medication at health facilities.
He says that issue has been put to bed.
"You cant say almost a year down the line you still tell the nation there is a shortage of drugs when the problem does not exist anymore, so the country has been lied to" Kupelo said.
