Eastern Cape health services 'worst they have been in 50 years'

According to a former health MEC in the province, the Eastern Cape's medical services are the worst they have been in 50 years.

This was one of the charges made at an Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition conference after provincial health MEC Sicelo Gqobana missed the deadline to draw up an action plan.

The coalition consists of healthcare workers, NGOs, churches and unions.

Dr Trudy Thomas, a former Eastern Cape health MEC, said: "I've been in the Eastern Cape health services since 1961 and the first years of service were excellent."

She added: "It has become so bad...the health services in the Eastern Cape are the worst [they have been] in 50 years."

Anele Yawa, national chairman of the Treatment Action Campaign, said the only correspondence Gqobana's office sent the coalition was a letter asking for a meeting on November 22.

"We have decided that we will write a letter to the provincial leadership of the ANC, Premier Noxolo Kiviet, and the standing committee on health in the province," Yawa said.

Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: "The national minister [Aaron Motsoaledi] has already pronounced an intervention and, as a province, we've drawn up an implementation plan."