Khayelitsha District Hospital: Legal Procedures were Followed | Western Cape Government

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Khayelitsha District Hospital: Legal Procedures were Followed

17 January 2012

Western Cape Government Health is proud to present the new Khayelitsha District Hospital to the people of Khayelitsha. The Western Cape Premier Helen Zille will officially open the state-of-the-art facility in April 2012.

Twenty-six patients have already been transferred to the hospital and were positively received by both patients and family members.

The second stage in the process of complete commissioning of the hospital will commence on 1 February 2012 with the opening of the 24-hour emergency centre. The final stage is on 15 February 2012 with the opening of obstetrics and paediatrics wards.

Patients from Michael Mapongwana Community Health Centre, Site B CHC, Nolungile CHC and smaller clinics in the Khayelitsha area will be referred to Khayelitsha Hospital when required. These clinics will continue to render a health service to the community and surrounds.

An ambulance station is located on the premises of the Khayelitsha Hospital, with a fleet of 11 ambulances dedicated to serve the Khayelitsha community and its immediate surrounding areas. A total of 110 staff members will be deployed to operate the ambulance services for the area.

Staff Establishment:
All appointments for the Khayelitsha District Hospital were done within the required prescripts and indeed many of those appointed come from Khayelitsha or the immediate surrounding areas.

The Department of Health advertised a total of 324 posts for various post categories on 5 November 2011. 76 815 applications were received, including duplications. The process of shortlisting started on 28 November 2011, concluding the process on 28 December 2011.

Forty-two recruitment and selection panels were appointed and used for interviews. Interviews commenced on 6 December 2011. To date, 261 posts have been finalised, of which 104 posts (40%) were filled by residents from Khayelitsha itself, while 144 (55%) were filled by residents from areas around such as Gugulethu, Philippi and Crossroads.

Of these posts, 186 (71%) were new appointments of people from outside the public service while a further 54 posts (20%) were filled with transfers from within the public service. Fifty-six posts are still in the process of being filled and seven of the 324 posts will be re-advertised. The remainder vacancies are expected to be filled by the end of March 2012.

All processes and procedures were followed within the guidelines as prescribed by law. Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, says, "This government commits to ensure that every attempt has been made, within set legal and policy boundaries to afford the residents of Khayelitsha a legitimate opportunity to be recruited into the vacant positions within the hospital." He also indicated that it is important to note that many of those transferred into posts at the new hospital may be previous residents of the area.

Tender Processes for Goods and Services:
Fifteen of the 18 tenders have already been awarded to service providers of goods and services. Set legal and policy criteria as determined by the state were used during the tender process. One of the criteria to all prospective service providers was that the labour compliment be at least 60% from the Khayelitsha area. These tenders were awarded according to fair supply chain management policy and procedures. The contractors for cleaning, security and catering have committed to an almost 100% local workforce which is significantly greater than what was required.

Cleaning Services: A total number of 28 bids were received for cleaning services of which eight were from Khayelitsha business owners and 20 from business owners outside of Khayelitsha.
Security Services: 34 bids were received for security tenders, of whom six were from Khayelitsha.
Catering Services: Seven bids were received and three were from Khayelitsha.

The main reasons for the exclusion of bidders were incorrect and incomplete documentation and applications that did not meet the minimum requirements.

Both the human resource recruitment and selection and tender processes were followed according to existing government policy and law and any deviation from the processes and adherence to these demands has the potentials invite serious legal challenges from disaffected bidders and thus negatively affect the functioning of the new hospital.

Response to Memorandum:
On Sunday, 15 January 2012, the department received a memorandum of demands from the Khayelitsha Development Forum. These demands include:

  1. That all operations of the Khayelitsha District Hospital be suspended.
  2. The process of filling of all vacancies as well as procurement is redone.
  3. The inauguration of the Facility Board is put on hold.
  4. Both Drs Giovanni Perez and Anwar Kharwa are removed from the facility as they deliberately misconstrue the work that has been done by the KDF and the Western Cape Health Minister.
  5. The relevant authorities to respond formally to the memorandum within seven days.

These demands will be responded to officially and communicated to the media simultaneously. However it can be stated that there is no reason to suspend any services at Khayelitsha Hospital, as this would have a significant negative effect on health service delivery for the community of Khayelitsha and beyond.

There will be a media update on the status at a press conference on Wednesday, 25 January 2012, at 11:00

Media Enquiries: 

Hélène Rossouw
Media Liaison for Minister Botha
Tel: 021 483 4426
Cell: 082 771 8834
E-mail: helene.rossouw@pgwc.gov.za