Netcare closing child care & maternity facilities in Ballito
The Issue
Dear Friends of South Africa
It has been brought to our attention that Netcare head office has made a decision that they are closing all child medical facilities at Netcare Alberlito efffective January 2023. Their rationale is that it’s more financially viable to treat adult patients & surgeries only.
This means that all gynaecologists & paediatric doctors have been given notice that their lease will not be renewed in January.
Current paediatricians:
Prof Van Niekerk
Dr Comley
Dr Pather
Dr Chetty
Obstetricians:
Dr Mthethwa
Dr Roberts
Dr Lindeque
Dr Subrayan
Dr Ngotho
It also means that us Ballito residents will have no hospital facilities for our children. No Obstetricians for pregnant women. These doctors have been solely committed to providing the North Coast community with the best service and care, pouring their lives into health and wellness of us all, and are now left with Netcare quite literally closing the hospital doors in their faces and destroying everything they have built over the years. Alberlito is be the first - what hospitals will Netcare continue to roll this out in thereafter?
There are 3 routes to fight this decision:
1.) Lobby government as they reportedly made a new ruling that a hospital license does not require the hospital to care for children or mothers where it previously did.
2.) Public outcry to Netcare Head Office by emailing them on customer.service@netcare.co.za.
3.) Sign this petition and share it to show how we stand together against this
Remember bad things can only happen when good people stand by and do nothing. Everyone always thinks that someone else will do something with the result that nothing happens.
Ballito friends, let’s stand up and speak up for our children. Please share this message far and wide and get Netcare and government to reassess their strategy of protecting profit over people.
JOIN US FOR A PEACEFUL PROTEST THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER 4PM OUTSIDE ASHTON CIRCLE - WEAR BLACK
image source: royalty free by Guillaume de Germain
—————————————————-
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM HEALTH CARE PRACTIONERS AT ALBERLITO
Public statement by paediatricians and obstetricians with practices at the Netcare Alberlito Hospital
The acting hospital manager of Alberlito Hospital and the recently appointed regional manager of Netcare in KwaZulu Natal informed the paediatricians and obstetricians with practices at Alberlito Hospital that their leases will not be renewed in January 2023 and that they must vacate their consulting rooms by the end of April 2023. They also confirmed that the hospital will not offer admission facilities to sick children and birthing woman by May 2023. The reason given was that the admission rates to the paediatric, obstetric, and neonatal units were too low and that these units will be repurposed for higher income-generating services.
Paediatric and obstetric practices are not viable without admission facilities. There are no alternative admission facilities for sick children and birthing mothers in Ballito and this step will have a dire impact on the viability of our practices.
We notice the public outcry on social media and other platforms and want to thank our concerned patients and members of the community for their empathy, understanding and support.
This notice was handed down verbally on 20 October 2022 and are open to individual understanding. Netcare did not negotiate alternative options before informing us of their decision. We are still ‘bowled over’ and cannot immediately announce alternative plans but will keep our patients and the community informed. We are dedicated to this community and are seeking ways to maintain services.
We believe that children and pregnant woman should always have access to community- based healthcare. This decision will affect the children and pregnant woman who live in Ballito and will have a negative impact on the livelihood of most of us and our staff. We hope that these unfortunate events and resulting public outcry will open a national debate on funder reimbursement for especially paediatric care and the change in licencing policy (by the National Department of Health) that now allows community-based private hospitals to not offer lower income generating essential services.
By
Dr Strini Chetty
Dr Vanessa Comley
Dr Leneque Lindeque
Dr Nombuso Mthethwa
Dr David Ngotho
Dr Kamendran Pather
Dr Candice Roberts
Dr Marise Subrayan Professor André van Niekerk
22 October 2022
15,429
The Issue
Dear Friends of South Africa
It has been brought to our attention that Netcare head office has made a decision that they are closing all child medical facilities at Netcare Alberlito efffective January 2023. Their rationale is that it’s more financially viable to treat adult patients & surgeries only.
This means that all gynaecologists & paediatric doctors have been given notice that their lease will not be renewed in January.
Current paediatricians:
Prof Van Niekerk
Dr Comley
Dr Pather
Dr Chetty
Obstetricians:
Dr Mthethwa
Dr Roberts
Dr Lindeque
Dr Subrayan
Dr Ngotho
It also means that us Ballito residents will have no hospital facilities for our children. No Obstetricians for pregnant women. These doctors have been solely committed to providing the North Coast community with the best service and care, pouring their lives into health and wellness of us all, and are now left with Netcare quite literally closing the hospital doors in their faces and destroying everything they have built over the years. Alberlito is be the first - what hospitals will Netcare continue to roll this out in thereafter?
There are 3 routes to fight this decision:
1.) Lobby government as they reportedly made a new ruling that a hospital license does not require the hospital to care for children or mothers where it previously did.
2.) Public outcry to Netcare Head Office by emailing them on customer.service@netcare.co.za.
3.) Sign this petition and share it to show how we stand together against this
Remember bad things can only happen when good people stand by and do nothing. Everyone always thinks that someone else will do something with the result that nothing happens.
Ballito friends, let’s stand up and speak up for our children. Please share this message far and wide and get Netcare and government to reassess their strategy of protecting profit over people.
JOIN US FOR A PEACEFUL PROTEST THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER 4PM OUTSIDE ASHTON CIRCLE - WEAR BLACK
image source: royalty free by Guillaume de Germain
—————————————————-
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM HEALTH CARE PRACTIONERS AT ALBERLITO
Public statement by paediatricians and obstetricians with practices at the Netcare Alberlito Hospital
The acting hospital manager of Alberlito Hospital and the recently appointed regional manager of Netcare in KwaZulu Natal informed the paediatricians and obstetricians with practices at Alberlito Hospital that their leases will not be renewed in January 2023 and that they must vacate their consulting rooms by the end of April 2023. They also confirmed that the hospital will not offer admission facilities to sick children and birthing woman by May 2023. The reason given was that the admission rates to the paediatric, obstetric, and neonatal units were too low and that these units will be repurposed for higher income-generating services.
Paediatric and obstetric practices are not viable without admission facilities. There are no alternative admission facilities for sick children and birthing mothers in Ballito and this step will have a dire impact on the viability of our practices.
We notice the public outcry on social media and other platforms and want to thank our concerned patients and members of the community for their empathy, understanding and support.
This notice was handed down verbally on 20 October 2022 and are open to individual understanding. Netcare did not negotiate alternative options before informing us of their decision. We are still ‘bowled over’ and cannot immediately announce alternative plans but will keep our patients and the community informed. We are dedicated to this community and are seeking ways to maintain services.
We believe that children and pregnant woman should always have access to community- based healthcare. This decision will affect the children and pregnant woman who live in Ballito and will have a negative impact on the livelihood of most of us and our staff. We hope that these unfortunate events and resulting public outcry will open a national debate on funder reimbursement for especially paediatric care and the change in licencing policy (by the National Department of Health) that now allows community-based private hospitals to not offer lower income generating essential services.
By
Dr Strini Chetty
Dr Vanessa Comley
Dr Leneque Lindeque
Dr Nombuso Mthethwa
Dr David Ngotho
Dr Kamendran Pather
Dr Candice Roberts
Dr Marise Subrayan Professor André van Niekerk
22 October 2022
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 22 October 2022