MBABANE – Healthcare workers are witnessing preventable deaths as shortages of medicines, equipment and personnel continue to plague public hospitals.
This emerged during submissions by nurses before Parliament’s Select Committee investigating conditions at Mbabane Government Hospital (MGH). The House of Assembly established the Select Committee on the Mbabane Government Hospital Employees’ Petition, 2025, following Motion No. 22/2025, moved by Mbabane East legislator Welcome Dlamini and seconded by Dr Bonginkosi Dlamini on July 9, 2025.
The motion mandated the appointment of a seven-member committee to inquire into and investigate grievances raised by health workers at the hospital. The petition was initially submitted by the Chairperson of the Mbabane Government Hospital Unit Committee, Musa Shongwe, on May 7, 2025 and formalised on May 16, 2025.
The Zanele Mashaba-led committee concluded that the difficulties at Mbabane Government Hospital stemmed from structural and systemic weaknesses, including poor inter-ministerial coordination, under-funding and a fragmented accountability chain.
These deficiencies have directly affected patient care, leading to increased waiting times, preventable deaths and declining public confidence in the health system.
Sicelo Dlamini was the Vice Chairperson, while the members were Futhi Ngcamphalala, Tanele Magagula, Dr Dlamini, Thandeka Mavuso and Bhekithemba Bhembe.
In their investigation, they found that professional councils lacked the capacity to enforce ethical standards effectively, further eroding institutional integrity and as such, the hospital’s predicament encapsulated a national crisis of health governance and resource management within Eswatini’s health sector.
The committee when inquiring about operations at the national referral hospital established from the key petitioners that many healthcare workers were operating under extremely stressful conditions, as they struggled to provide care without adequate resources and that nurses were often forced to watch patients’ conditions deteriorate while awaiting treatment, medication or specialised interventions.
The report states that chronic shortages of essential medicines and medical consumables made it increasingly difficult for health workers to provide timely care. It was said Parliament heard that staffing shortages further compounded the problem, leaving many departments operating with insufficient personnel.
The committee found that the emotional toll on healthcare workers became significant and as such, health professionals reportedly experienced trauma and frustration when patients suffered avoidable complications or deaths due to shortages beyond their control.
The inquiry established that prolonged recruitment delays and the continued loss of experienced healthcare workers worsened service delivery challenges.
The Members of Parliament (MPs) warned that declining staff morale and burnout posed a serious threat to the sustainability of the public healthcare system.
The committee concluded that unless shortages of medicines, equipment and personnel were urgently addressed, healthcare workers would continue to face impossible working conditions.
During the investigations, it was also established that shortages of medical supplies reportedly forced healthcare workers to reuse items intended for single use, raising concerns about patient safety.
Evidence presented before the select committee highlighted recurring shortages of essential medical consumables across health facilities.
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