Private hospital beds for the poor

Private hospitals in Gauteng have been told to open their wards to poor patients because state hospitals are full.

Johannesburg - Private hospitals in Gauteng have been told to open their wards to poor patients because state hospitals are full to overflowing, while private hospitals have 40 percent empty beds.

Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said private hospitals would treat overflow patients from government hospitals and government would pay.

Mahlangu said the 16 000 beds at state hospitals were not enough to treat the province’s 12 million.

“Do we build more hospitals or do we encourage people to lead healthy lifestyles? Do we work with the private sector and use what is already there?” she asked.

“It is a matter of looking at what regulations can we use to allow state (hospital) patients to be treated in private facilities at the state’s cost.”

Mahlangu said the government planned to partner with the private sector to alleviate the current pressures on the state’s resources.

This would mean that private patients will continue paying for high rate services while the state assists those who can’t afford specialised health care.

“We know that some of the beds in private hospitals are under-utilised. For instance Midstream Mediclinic has some ICU beds that are available and those could be useful to us,” said Mahlangu.

She said a proposed “electronic- bed system” would help the Department of Health to tell which hospitals have available beds.

“I want a situation where I can sit (in) my office and be able to log onto a system where I can access the database of hospitals (in Gauteng) in order to see how many beds are available and where.”

Mahlangu said the system would also spot facilities, which claimed not to have space.

But a formal agreement is yet to be signed between the government and private hospitals on the costs of transferring public health patients into the private sector.

Gauteng public health-care facilities have been buckling under pressure to accommodate the growing number of patients because of shortages of beds. However, says Mahlangu, this is a worldwide problem.

Dr Nokuphila Mazamisa, chief director of hospital services in the province, said the private hospitals bed occupancy rate was at 60 percent while public hospitals were at 100 percent.

“We know that this (transfer of state patients to private) won’t come free,” she said.

“High-level discussions with Netcare and Life Healthcare would have to take place so that we agree on prices.” She described the proposed plans as a sensitive matter which needs to be well thought out before implemented.

Mazamisa said it was ultimately about private hospital beds being accessible to indigent communities. Asked about the reasons for bed shortages, she said the admissions in public health-care facilities far outweighed the number of people discharged.

“It is not ideal for any patient to wait for more than eight hours for a bed. But due to practical difficulties it does happen. I don’t think the private sector will have a problem with sharing resources.

“The qualifier would be that the government will have to emphasise the issue of affordability.”

Mediclinic chief executive Koert Pretorius said the group had not been formally approached but added this has been the stated intention in the government white paper on the NHI.

“This type of contracting was scheduled to be towards the end of NHI process. The idea stated was to outsource procedures where the waiting times were too high.”

Pretorius said the private sector was keen to contribute to the overall health of the country.

“A critical component to the success of this initiative would be the willingness of the state to increase the number of the nurses being trained at all levels. Ultimately we will need additional capacity and resources.”

The average bed occupancy at Mediclinic hospitals on weekdays, weekends and holiday periods was 75 percent over seven days a week.

The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa) has welcomed the plans. Chief executive Duimsani Bomela said the country’s service delivery required a combined effort from both the private and public sector.

“We all have to contribute in various ways in trying to meet the enormous needs of the country’s population. Naturally this should entail closer co-operation.

“Hasa members welcome the prospect of partnering with the government,” he said.

Bomela cautioned this would work through means of formal discussions between the two sectors and to see how private hospitals contribute, including hospital beds. Netcare and and LifeHealthcare were unable to comment.

Saturday Star