Qonce Patients at Risk as Hospital Collapse Looms

Statement by Jane Cowley MPL – Shadow MEC for Health:

Residents of Qonce may soon be left without reliable access to emergency and essential healthcare as Grey Hospital faces a looming service collapse, placing vulnerable patients, expectant mothers, and the elderly at immediate risk.

For many families, Grey Hospital is the only nearby facility for urgent medical care. Its failure would force patients to travel long distances for treatment or join already overwhelmed tertiary hospitals, delaying care and turning manageable conditions into life-threatening emergencies.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has formally engaged Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa to demand clarity on the hospital’s operational status, funding gaps, and concrete plans to prevent closure. I have also written to the National Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, requesting urgent intervention, including, if necessary, placing the facility under administration to stabilise services and protect patients.

This crisis is the predictable result of years of mismanagement by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, marked by collapsing infrastructure, chronic staff shortages, and repeated failures to maintain basic hospital operations. The same warning signs have been visible at facilities such as Livingstone Hospital.

Despite repeated assurances that district-level care would be strengthened to ease pressure on tertiary hospitals, the opposite is happening. District hospitals like Grey are critically understaffed and frequently experience shortages of medical and surgical supplies.

Food and laundry services are unreliable, and standards of care have deteriorated sharply. Patients are increasingly bypassing referral pathways and seeking care at tertiary hospitals, further exacerbating congestion across the system.

Unfunded plans, without adequate staffing and resources, are doomed to fail. The ANC-led government’s continued inaction directly undermines residents’ constitutional right to healthcare and reflects a broader pattern of systemic neglect.

The DA will submit formal questions to the Provincial Legislature to hold the government accountable for this crisis, and will press for transparent reporting on budgets, staffing levels, and service continuity at Grey Hospital. These steps are essential to protect patients, support frontline healthcare workers, and restore stability to a facility that thousands depend on.

The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers, and a future built on dignity, access to care, and honest government. The DA remains committed to rebuilding a public health system that puts patients first.