South Africa: Following reports that patients at Dora Ngiza Hospital were not receiving adequate food, the Executive Mayor, Cllr Eugene Johnson, acted swiftly and met with the hospital’s CEO in an effort to quickly resolve the issue.
The Executive Mayor was informed that the hospital’s greatest challenge was the poor condition of the pots, which had been reported by the CEO and hospital for a long time.
Yesterday morning, kitchen staff refused to work due to faulty pots, with only one out of four being functional and frequently breaking down. This caused a delay in the timely delivery of food.
Management permitted the use of bread for the day, and in the evening, the CEO personally ensured that patients, particularly children, were provided with food for the night.
The CEO informed the mayor that there was no general strike in the hospital.
He said that there was neither a shortage of food but, however, there was not enough nutritionally valuable instant foods to use when pots break.
Mr Uren, chairperson of the NMB District Business Community Police Board, and Mr Nondomiso Peter, his deputy, along with Pastor Richard Keet, CEO of Soulstream Radio Station, organized sponsorship of food.
The hospital received 40kgs of maize meal, milk, coffee, tea, rice, 120 litres of warm soup, 80 loaves of bread, eight dozen rolls, bags of baby disposable nappies and sweets.