Military hospitals in firing line

The SA Medical Association is investigating the state of military hospitals, which are said to be severely short of staff.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has appointed association doctors to report on the shortage of specialists at the hospital at which heads of state are treated, 1Military Hospital, Pretoria, according to the association's president Phophi Ramathuba.

DA spokesman on defence David Maynier yesterday said that though military hospitals were underfunded and severely understaffed, R11-million had been spent on building a clinic at Nkandla for the sole purpose of treating President Jacob Zuma.

1 Military Hospital had 473 vacancies in mid-2013.

Of those, 98 were for general practitioners or trainee specialists, and seven for specialists .

Zuma's presidential medical unit is staffed by an average of 56 medical personnel, has access to an average 67 vehicles and has an average annual budget of R9.7-million.

Maynier said: "The presidential medical unit seems to have become an empire within the SA Military Health Service."

He complained that R50-million had been spent treating the president since his inauguration in 2009.

Ramathuba, who has previously decried the state of 1Military Hospital, told The Times that she will comment on the situation only when the SA Medical Association report into the state of military health facilities is complete.

Former president Nelson Mandela was last year treated at a private hospital in Pretoria, not at 1Military Hospital.