Speaking on eNCA, Ramathuba said service delivery must be prioritised at all times. She said she will not apologise for being firm.
“South Africans must forgive me if I might at times lose my cool, like some are saying, but I don’t believe that is how I am. I’m firm and there is a difference between being angry, attacking or being unprofessional.
“I was trying to say, ‘how do you expect poor patients who can’t afford health care to come to the clinic, which is their only hope’? The patients we are treating in public facilities have no alternatives. If they had an alternative, they would not think twice about not visiting us.”
This is not the first time the MEC has come under fire for her approach.
In a viral video shared last year, Ramathuba told a Zimbabwean admitted to a Limpopo public hospital her country must take responsibility for her health issues and not South Africa.
She said Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget.
“You are supposed to be with Mnangagwa. You are killing my health system. When you guys are sick you say, ‘let’s cross the Limpopo river, there’s a MEC there who is running a charity department’.”
The outburst saw demands for her to be given the boot.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Ramathuba said her comments were taken out of context.
POLL | Is health MEC Phophi Ramathuba justified in scolding nurses on camera?
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times
A video of Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba scolding senior managers at Rethabile Clinic in Polokwane has garnered mixed reactions, with some saying it was “intrusive and performative”.
In the now-deleted video , Ramathuba can be seen scolding a senior manager for supposedly taking a lunch break during a “disaster” at the clinic.
“As a supervisor, I expected when there is a disaster you'd be sitting here and working,” Ramathuba told the senior manager.
“When there is a disaster, I can’t go on leave. When there is a disaster with Eskom, the president cancelled [his trip to the] World Economic Forum. You can’t be the first to go on lunch when there is a disaster and leave the junior staff. You should be here and coming up with a way to resolve this matter.”
Speaking on eNCA, Ramathuba said service delivery must be prioritised at all times. She said she will not apologise for being firm.
“South Africans must forgive me if I might at times lose my cool, like some are saying, but I don’t believe that is how I am. I’m firm and there is a difference between being angry, attacking or being unprofessional.
“I was trying to say, ‘how do you expect poor patients who can’t afford health care to come to the clinic, which is their only hope’? The patients we are treating in public facilities have no alternatives. If they had an alternative, they would not think twice about not visiting us.”
This is not the first time the MEC has come under fire for her approach.
In a viral video shared last year, Ramathuba told a Zimbabwean admitted to a Limpopo public hospital her country must take responsibility for her health issues and not South Africa.
She said Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget.
“You are supposed to be with Mnangagwa. You are killing my health system. When you guys are sick you say, ‘let’s cross the Limpopo river, there’s a MEC there who is running a charity department’.”
The outburst saw demands for her to be given the boot.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Ramathuba said her comments were taken out of context.
LISTEN | Limpopo health MEC defends scolding health official in viral video
“On a daily basis we have an influx of foreign nationals choking the health system in Limpopo. The situation is getting worse. As a province, we have a backlog of surgical operations so I started a programme called Rural Health Matter to reduce the backlog. It's not xenophobic.
“We started the programme when we had a breather during Covid-19 and we have done more than 4,000 operations.
“I started doing inspections, only to find the vast majority of people on the list are foreign nationals and the operations they come here for are not emergencies.”
TimesLIVE
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READ MORE:
WATCH | Limpopo health MEC gets tongues wagging for scolding nurses at Rethabile Clinic
From blasting a patient to reprimanding schoolgirls: 5 times health MEC Ramathuba made headlines this year
'You could have been more diplomatic': Zimbabwe embassy on Limpopo MEC's remarks to patient
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