Family pays the ultimate price for administrative ineptitude

What does administrative ineptitude and poor contract management have to do with people dying?

It may seem like a stretch to link the two, but it is especially prevalent in the public health sector and, at times, in the education sector.

At the weekend a Gqeberha family learnt this the hard way when they tried for six agonising hours to get hold of an ambulance to take their child to a hospital.

Janay van Niekerk, 18, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at seven months old, was having difficulty swallowing at the weekend and her throat had narrowed.

Realising that there was something wrong, her parents tried to contact the local emergency services line.

Despite multiple attempts, they could not get through, and because they did not have a vehicle, they were unable to take her to the hospital themselves.

The emergency line was not working because the Telkom landlines were suspended on September 1 allegedly due to the failure of the health department to pay its phone bill.

Provincial health spokesperson Mkhululi Ndamase said the department had been transparent about the telephone lines being disconnected last week.

“This is due to a delay in payment as a result of an internal verification of which Telkom telephone lines are being used by the department,” he said.

“The department has since engaged Telkom to arrange for the payment of the debt owed while the findings and recommendations of the outcome of the inquiry by internal auditors are being implemented.

“We advised the public to call the national emergency number when they needed an ambulance during the period that the lines were disconnected as an alternative means to request services.”

The department should have never reached the point of failing to maintain its payments; to have an emergency line down, even for a day, is simply unacceptable.

Dysfunctional government institutions and administrative incompetence can literally cost lives.

Heads must roll for this.

HeraldLIVE