The Portfolio Committee on Health started its three-day oversight programme to Hospitals in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.
Committee Chairperson Dr Kenneth Jacobs says after seeing the state of the Dora Nginza hospital he decided to ask the National Department of Health to launch a full-scale investigation to determine if the hospital should even be open at all due to health and safety concerns.
At Dora Nginza the committee was unhappy with all the service delivery units and the general state of the hospital, from casualty, maternity, trauma, theatre, toilets, wards, and ambulances, everything was in a bad state.
Dr Jacobs called on the provincial and national departments of health to assist the hospital by salvaging it from its poor condition it is in.
He said one of the ways to assist the hospital is by placing it under administration.
He urged the hospital's Chief Executive Officer and his management team to be honest and admit their faults and come up with an effective turnaround strategy.
The Committee further engaged with hospital management and boards on the state of hospitals and on the implementation of the recommendations of the Public Protector and Health Ombud.
The committee also heard that the hospital together with other healthcare centres in the Eastern Cape operate under very limited budgets as a result of accruals and large medicolegal claims which reduce their budgets every year.
Dr Jacobs said after seeing the state of Dora Nginza he understood why they had so many legal claims against them.
At Uitenhage Hospital the committee expressed its unhappiness with the state of casualty where patients waited for a very long time before they see doctors, terrible conditions of the hospital mortuary, dirty old blankets and shortage of linen at certain wards as well as poor maintenance of the hospital.
"This hospital needs more doctors and nurses and it must always have adequate capacity to manage 100 admissions that may come from a natural disaster," added Dr Jacobs.
The committee will be visiting Provincial Hospital as well as Livingstone Hospital on Saturday.
