Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi urged health industry stakeholders to support the office of the health ombudsman to continue building a safe and ethical health-care system for all South Africans.
Motsoaledi virtually delivered a keynote address at the opening of the two-day inaugural health ombudsman conference at Emperors Palace Convention Centre on Thursday.
The conference brought together health-care professionals, policymakers, regulators, academics and members of civil society under the theme “Health and Health care as a Human Right”.
Motsoaledi paid tribute to the foundational role played by South Africa's first health ombudsman, Prof Malegapuru Makgoba. He said his integrity and dedication were instrumental in establishing the health ombudsman as a respected and independent institution within our health system.
“The achievement of the health ombuds office under both past and present leadership has been significant. Prof Makgoba's tenure saw a landmark investigation, such as the Life Esidimeni tragedy, the Tembisa Hospital neonatal death, and the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital inquiry,” he said
He said those investigations exposed critical gaps and led to reforms.
He said each intervention, whether high-profile or less publicised, had contributed to a meaningful transformation in how the health system responds to complaints and upholds the dignity of those it serves.
“This conference is an opportunity to reflect on these achievements, share best practices, and chart the way forward together. I urge all stakeholders, health-care professionals, policymakers, regulators, academics and civil society to support the health ombuds,” he said.
An activist and founder of Justice and Activism Hub, Mark Heywood, told industry leaders that leadership was probably the most important determinant of access to health-care services. Delivering his speech about the determinants of access to health care — the health-care users' perspective — he said his call as a health-care user was for greater leadership.
“For leadership that is ethical, that puts people first, that puts truth first, that rises to make difficult, sometimes unpopular, decisions, that rallies and mobilises the country to use the resources that we do have, that is pragmatic where it needs to be, and that is principled,” he said.
Heywood said there was a need for partnership, consultation and collaboration among all the different parts of the health-care system.
“We desperately need that now, because South Africa is facing a health crisis in multiple ways,” he said.
He added that there are people who may not go to the health ombudsman office, who may not end up at the office of health standards compliance, because they don't have the capacity, resources, or information to be able to make a complaint.
“But these are people who are being failed every minute of the day, in the health-care system, and they're getting sick, and many of them are dying in a system that is meant to be there to save lives.”
He said this should not be the case, and if allowed, the ombudsman and the office of health standards compliance face an impossible task.
“They have to oversee a broken health system that is trying to manage an impossible and ever-increasing demand, and that's the impasse that I feel that we have to break.”
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