The public healthcare system in the Free State province is teetering on the edge of disaster. Hospitals across the region are struggling with crumbling infrastructure, severe staff shortages, and entrenched mismanagement that threaten to collapse the entire system.
This crisis was starkly highlighted when the Department of Labour shut down Ward 4 at Bloemfontein’s National Hospital on July 10 due to urgent safety concerns. The closure piles pressure on an already overwhelmed health service, still reeling from a fire last year that led to the evacuation of 83 patients — a ward that remains unrepaired.
Key hospitals like Pelonomi, National Hospital, and Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli in QwaQwa face daily challenges with leaking roofs, failing sewage systems, and frequent electrical outages, creating unsafe and untenable conditions for both patients and staff.
Ambulance services in rural and peri-urban areas are equally dire, with ratios of just one ambulance per 10,000 people — a far cry from national standards — causing critical delays in emergency response times that put lives at risk.
Although R500 million was earmarked for repairs, whistleblowers reveal that much of the funding has been diverted to cover unpaid suppliers, ghost workers, and other operational inefficiencies, exposing deep-rooted corruption that continues to sabotage progress.
The newly appointed Head of the Health Department, Masechaba Sesing, faces an uphill battle restoring public confidence while contending with a system riddled with scandal and dysfunction.
Healthcare unions and civil society are urgently demanding a forensic audit, greater transparency, and the recruitment of qualified professionals to salvage the province’s healthcare system.
Without immediate and decisive intervention, millions of Free State residents may soon find themselves without access to even the most basic medical care, as the province’s healthcare infrastructure edges toward total collapse.
