​Lerato Mailoane
Gauteng MEC for Health, Dr. Bandile Masuku has unveiled a bold new mobile application (app) to improve patient care at all health facilities across the province.
Addressing a media briefing marking the end of 100 days since he took office, MEC Masuku said he had to date visited over 19 hospitals and clinics and this has enabled him to assess the situation and develop a plan "for not only five but ten hospitals that will get special upgrades in the current financial year".
Key to the department's plan is a to improve patients' care experience and raising the staff morale.
This will be done through of an app designed for the public to report their queries which the MEC has describes as an IT solution to handling complaints in the system. 
Masuku's 100 first days in office involved putting out fires of complaints from unhappy healthcare users who often took to social media to complain about the treatment they or loved ones had received at facilities as well as the sporadic shortages of HIV drugs at clinics across the province. 
"We need to drive the complaints traffic away from 'Fake News' and reduce the vulnerability of patients' rights and the breach of medical ethics. The digital revolution is already underway in Gauteng Health. 
"The app will be available on Friday 13th September 2019," he added.
According to the department's Chief Information Officer, Solly Cave: "Patients will be able to report anything. It can be staff attitudes, infrastructure, patient experience, patients and staff safety." 
The app automatically populates a person's location and then the complainant can articulate their issue after their location has been recorded, he added. 
"The patients have a choice to report anonymously… When submitted, the complaint goes straight to the back-end office where quality assurance team will receive and start working on it," Cave said.
He added that patients would be able to use the app to get information about any health facility in Gauteng, such as who is the CEO of a hospital in their area.