According to the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health, the response is as follows:
- Butterworth Hospital has a total of 260 usable beds.
- There are no patients from the hospital that end up sleeping on benches. This is reflected in the hospital bed occupancy which range from 70%-75%. However, the problem arises when patients from the rural areas are referred by Butterworth Hospital to Frere or Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals. In order to be on time for the patient transport, they opt to sleep at the hospital’s patient waiting are the night before or when they return from these referrals, it is usually late in the day and they can no longer find transport back to their homes, and they opt to sleep on the benches at the hospital waiting area.
END.