- The DA calls for Livingstone Hospital to be placed under administration.
- Outpatient clinics are closed due to unfilled doctor vacancies.
- Hospital conditions continue to deteriorate with no intervention.
The DA calls on the National Department of Health to engage with the Eastern Cape Health Department (ECDH) as a matter of urgency to solve the crisis of the closure of Livingstone Hospital’s outpatient clinics. It is clear that the hospital is unable to remedy the chaos on its own.
The time has come for Livingstone Hospital to be placed under administration to halt the alarming deterioration in services and ensure that patients receive the care they deserve.
Although the ECDH claims that the letter – issued on its official letterhead, stating that “from Monday, 12 May 2025, no doctors will be available for numerous outpatient clinics the Surgery Department is responsible for” due to the department having “lost a number of doctors in the past year” without any replacements – is fake, patients report a different reality, with many being turned away since Monday.
Past DA-oversights to the hospital, which serves a province that’s home to more than 7 million people, revealed a facility on the brink of collapse.
The conditions at Livingstone Hospital bordered on inhumane, with medical waste and dirty linen in corridors, unsafe infrastructure, broken equipment, lack of supplies, and staff shortages.
Despite the DA requesting the Health Ombud to investigate and his findings confirming the deplorable conditions witnessed during our visits, the situation has continued to spiral.