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Hospitals in the Eastern Cape need more staff and beds, particularly in remote areas, and more oxygen equipment.
This is according to the Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize who is currently visiting Hospitals in Port Elizabeth.
Mkhize acknowledged that a BBC documentary had revealed shocking conditions at some Eastern Cape hospitals, especially Livingstone, and said his department had given instructions these were to be cleaned up and repaired.
The Minister asked for a speedy resolution, proper leadership and urgent repair work to be done in all the institutions.
Mkhize said the province had 3,500 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients, but this number needed to be increased.
He said he had given instructions that all bureaucratic processes be streamlined rapidly so that the provincial health department could fill long-standing vacancies that had left it short as it faced its surge period.
This included resolving disciplinary processes that have left facilities with managers on suspension for long periods.
He said that where needed, patients would be moved to field hospitals, while those who were in an unacceptable state were put into order.
The Eastern Cape currently has the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the country, with a death toll of 1 345.
- African News Agency (ANA)
