Imtiaz Sooliman – Efforts to reduce backlog of over 500 operations in Kimberley hospital.

			Days, and they can make magic in
that amount of time, because they
		

			put much longer hours in trying to
bring health care to the people in
		

			the in the fastest way possible.
		

			How has the health department
taken to this idea?
		

			Well, it's, you know, we have
never had any obstacle. You know,
		

			for example, in the quarters
hospital, you had to get the
		

			permission of the Western Cape
department. There was no problem,
		

			because we do have a history with
health department since 2020 since
		

			the covid, we've been very, very
actively involved in health
		

			intervention throughout the
country. We assisted 210 hospitals
		

			during covid, but the various
items we were involved and are
		

			involved right now with massive
infrastructure upgrades at
		

			hospitals. As I'm talking to you
this, the last two weeks, we
		

			believe about a 50 million man
upgrade at Charlotte mcclelke
		

			Hospital. And we've done upgrades
in Eastern Cape, in KZN, in
		

			eastern in North Western Cape. So
we've been really actively
		

			involved during the covid itself
and beyond. And then, of course,
		

			in Eastern Cape, the other big
challenge is many hospitals
		

			haven't had water. So we put balls
in hospitals. We put in dedicated
		

			oxygen facilities, beds, linen,
oxygen machines, supplies in some
		

			hospitals, even providing food for
the patients when there was a
		

			problem. Then the hospital last
week in Eastern Cape ran out of
		

			easel because of a load shedding.
We made it available. So given all
		

			these activities, providing
scrubs, over 12,000 sets of
		

			uniforms to different hospitals,
we've built a fairly good
		

			relationship with the health
departments, and they see our work
		

			is purely to augment to take
pressure of existing health care
		

			workers, to speed up delivery of
cases, to bring help to the people
		

			much faster. So it's not an
antagonistic approach or a
		

			negative approach, or trying to
show anybody up. We dare to
		

			support this department, because
we know there's a crisis in terms
		

			of consumer bills, terms of
resources, in terms of personnel,
		

			and we all trying to do everything
possible to help the people of our
		

			country.
		

			What kind of skills are you
finding are in short supply?
		

			Because we often hear stories of
doctors who are finding it
		

			difficult to get jobs. Is it that
general surgeons are plentiful
		

			supply, but specialists, perhaps
are the ones that are in short
		

			supply.
		

			There's not a short supply of
personnel. There's a short supply
		

			of posts, that's a big problem,
and that's there's another project
		

			we're looking at, and whoever's
listening, you know, and hearing,
		

			we we're looking at promoting an
idea of funding between 305
		

			100 registrars. Now, registrars
are those of study to eventually
		

			become specialists. The government
has cut registrar posts, and
		

			there's far less registrar now in
the public service than there were
		

			several years ago, but the patient
count has multiplied
		

			exponentially, so you have many
more patients and much less
		

			registrars. And this affects
academic medicine. In other words,
		

			we can't teach Junior interns,
interns, medical officers and the
		

			other doctors in that category,
and we will have very few
		

			specialists qualifying, which
means we'll have compromised
		

			healthcare. We understand that the
health department has a serious
		

			budget constraint, as do most
government departments, so we
		

			calling on private sector, let's
start funding these registrars
		

			will go on to qualify and become
specialists, and at the same time,
		

			once during that, they train
students and and junior doctors
		

			behind them. So we keep up the
level of academic medicine and
		

			research and training. Each
register cost between 1.1 and 1.2
		

			million, which is not a lot of
money for a corporate company. If
		

			you can see 200 to 500 corporate
companies coming to the party, we
		

			can make a huge impact in the
health service in this country, in
		

			multiple disciplines, have better
teaching, better doctors
		

			qualified, and better patient
care.
		

			Doctor Sullivan, we'll have to
leave it there. But thank you so
		

			much indeed for what your
organization continues to do to
		

			help our people health systems and
in other areas of need. Thank you
		

			so much indeed, for your time.
It's a pleasure. All right, that
		

			was the founder of gift of the
givers, Dr Imtiaz Suleiman,
		

			talking about how doctors, nurses
and other health professionals
		

			have been deployed to Kimberly at
Robert mangalisa hospital there to
		

			help with a backlog. And he says
that this is a model that can be
		

			rolled out to many parts of the
country, and private sector,
		

			public sector need to work
together.