How to improve public healthcare

Ask any person who makes use of public healthcare services to rate the service on a scale of one to 10 and you are most likely to get a score of less than four.

People are not happy about the service they get from public healthcare facilities.

Aspects that contribute to their unhappiness are:

Long waits in queues to be assisted.

●

People wake up early in the morning and spend the whole day at public healthcare facilities. Some even carry lunch just to be safe because they don’t know when they will finish;

Under-staffed facilities;

●

Some are way too small to

● accommodate the community; and

A number of them are underresourced,

● for example, there are not enough ambulances.

But all is not lost. Our public healthcare services can be improved. Proposals:

Those in top positions should pay

● surprise visits to all public healthcare facilities around our country;

They should be assessed and public

● meetings with communities should be held so that members of the community can raise their concerns and make suggestions; and

A committee should be appointed to

● monitor public healthcare services and ensure that problems are addressed and that workers are working well.

Thebe Kgwetiane Maandagshoek, Limpopo