At the start of the year, Livingstone Hospital had only 20 wheelchairs and while the hospital has recently received more – with another order being processed – it is still woefully under-equipped.
The situation came to light as a result of an answer provided to the National Assembly by health minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
He said the 541-bed facility, which includes one of the busiest orthopaedic surgery and casualty units in the province, had only 20 wheelchairs.
Zithulele Hospital, a 147bed district hospital on the Wild Coast, had more wheelchairs than beds, with 148.
The 200-bed Uitenhage Provincial Hospital had 21 wheelchairs. Dora Nginza Hospital had 89 and PE Provincial Hospital 19 while Port Alfred Hospital had 14.
Eastern Cape health spokesperson Lwandile Sicwethsa said the information was from an audit done at the end of last year and he believed the situation to be very different now.
Livingstone Hospital acting CEO Dr Mojalefa Maseloa said it had received an additional 69 wheelchairs since the start of the financial year in April.
“Some have been allocated to patients. Patients have already been notified and we are waiting for them to collect the wheelchairs.
“The budget that is allocated for [walking aids, wheelchairs and crutches] serves the western region that covers both Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality and Sarah Baartman Municipality with the population of about 1.7million.
“There is no dedicated budget for wheelchairs at hospital level,” he said.
He said the hospital had ordered a further 240 for the region and was awaiting delivery.
A former patient at Livingstone Hospital, Clint Morris, who spent months at the hospital following a serious car accident, said finding a wheelchair at the facility was almost impossible.
“The ones that were there were very old. It was like they dated back to the 1950s,” he said.
Brian Paddey, from the Amputee Support Group, said he was heartbroken over the dire shortages at the hospital.
“We still see a shortage of crutches and wheelchairs.”