Watch: Free State Premier calls nurses to order during surprise visit
- A video is circulating online of Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae conducting a public healthcare visit
- Letsoha-Mathae questioned the staff's reportedly appalling professional conduct towards the patients
- The clip of the visit was posted by X user @BafanaSurprise, garnering a reaction from other online users
Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae called out nurses for their professional conduct during a provincial facility visit. Images: @ANCFS and @fsgov Source: Twitter
FREE STATE — A video showing Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae admonishing staff at a provincial health facility during an unannounced visit has social media abuzz.
Patient mistreatment, unreasonably long waiting times and staff and resource shortages, including inadequate budgets, have long constrained South Africa's public healthcare system.
Free State Premier calls nursing staff to order
Therefore, it is no surprise that the Free State is the latest province to expose the existential crisis.
In the clip, Letsoha-Mathae is observed admonishing clinic or hospital staff for allegedly mistreating patients.
She also lamented how the questionable professional conduct spurred ordinary citizens to vote against the African National Congress (ANC).
The material was posted on X by a user with the handle @BafanaSurprise.
The caption read:
"The Premier of Free State visited one of the hospitals/clinics dressed like an ordinary citizen just to see how the nurses [treat] patients. She got shocked to learn that people are [maltreated]."
Briefly News has contacted the premier's office to verify the video's authenticity and obtain the facts surrounding the visit.
It was unclear which facility Letsoha-Mathae visited.
In the clip, as the staff listen intently to Letsoha-Mathae speaking, she said:
"It doesn't look like we train these people [nurses] to be prepared for what is going to happen when they come to the [health facility].
"Most of them prepare for interviews knowing full well that they don't have the passion for the job.
"But you go for it anyway, and once you get the job [become complacent]. But that's not going to happen; not anymore. We will not subject our people to this kind of treatment.
"What's worse is we're all black people ill-treating black people."
She cautioned against patients waiting for as long as three hours to be treated while referencing knowing staff that made people they knew skip queues to get a quicker service.
She was heard ordering for one of the nurses to be issued a warning to deter the continuous behaviour they displayed.
She added:
"If we don't, it will be a mess. We will continue playing this game. Tomorrow, it could be your mother or cousin being treated that way. [So], if there's a need for a Batho Pele (people first) workshop for the nurses, [the facility must organise it]."
"The complaints we hear from the public aren't nice. We are public representatives and they hit out at us. The people punished the ANC because of such. When they punish, they do it to the government."
Online users berate public healthcare
The video had clocked over 150,000 views, about 2700 likes and 1000 reposts within three hours of posting.
Vocal netizens had plenty to say, with an array of shocked, livid and unsurprised responses.
Briefly News looked at some of the reactions below.
@_Lolo_Pat said:
"They always get shocked, but what are they doing about it?"
@Nkosi_Shebi suggested:
"She must fire those nurses."
@Mfoka_Mlangeni offered:
"People are too relaxed in most public institutions. I guess it's the way they are being paid. Or nepotism, knowing that nothing will happen to them; they are connected to someone at the top level."