Africa-Press – South-Africa. Food supply disruptions are reportedly affecting patients at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
The Gauteng Department of Health has allegedly spent more than R7 million on food since the beginning of the year.
However, Charlotte Maxeke still faces a shortage of bread, porridge, oats and yoghurt for those with special and normal diets as well as frozen meals.
According to the DA’s Gauteng spokesperson on health, Jack Bloom, the hospital resorted to baking its own scones and rusk as the delivery of rolls only started on 1 April.
“This has become a great concern for the sick patients who do not get proper nutrition to assist their recovery,” he said.
On 6 April, Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi revealed in an answer to Bloom in the Gauteng legislature there was a food supply disruption at the hospital because of shortcomings and limitations from the cook freeze system.
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According to Mokgethi, meals were supplied by the department’s Masakhane Cook Freeze factory. However, she said, the factory would often, on short notice, tell the hospital its food supply would be interrupted
“The shortage of bread at the hospital is due to contract problems and financial constraints.
“There are limited plates or meal variety for each diet code and thus there is a lot of repetition of the meals.”
Another issue she raised was that the factory had supply chain challenges, resulting in the shortage of stock.
“The factory also faces challenges with their faulty equipment, intermittent water, electricity supply and shortages of staff. And the portion sizes of the food types are too small,” said Mokgethi.”
This issues experienced at Charlotte Maxeke were also recently experienced at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
The hospital had to resort to the same strategies as that of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital where it had to bake bread when it was not delivered.
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Nursing staff allegedly even spent their own money on mielies to feed patients.
A Chris Hani Baragwanath nurse revealed at the time how they would cut pieces of chicken in half so that everyone could have a piece.
In response, the department said there was food at the hospital and it only faced a temporary problem with the supply of bread.
Although Charlotte Maxeke is reliant on the Masakhane Cook Freeze factor, Bloom said the hospital should not be forced to use the poorly managed factory.
“The issue is that the cook freeze method destroys nutrients in the food.
“A complete overhaul is needed of food supply contracts to ensure that our public hospitals have fresh and healthy food for patients.”
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He also mentioned the shortage of yoghurt, red meat and vegetables in the last few months at the hospital.
“The official daily menu provided by the hospital looks good, but this is not what patients actually get.”
In response to the food supply issues, Mokgethi said efforts were being made by the facility to provide nutritious meals to patients and regular food satisfaction surveys and plate waste studies were done and reported at various meetings.
“Quality improvement plans are compiled when there are complaints and sent to the quality department of the hospital.
“The hospital has a contingency plan; however, it is very limited due to the meal preparation constraints at the facility, as the food service manager and dietician are often informed by the supply that the food supply will be interrupted on very short notice, which becomes a challenge to purchase fresh produce in a short period of time.”
She added proposals have been drafted to upgrade the main kitchen.
“This, however, has financial implications and the current infrastructure budget has been prioritised towards the fire safety project.”
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