South Africa's heath minister has visited the country's largest hospital - and is troubled by what she saw

BBC News:

Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said she would hesitate to be treated at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, after a visit on Thursday.

The visit by the minister and other officials was part of a plan to improve service by promoting dialogue between patients and government officials.

The minister said she was shocked to see sick people waiting in long queues.

Many of the sick were sleeping on stretchers with no bed linen, the Star newspaper reports.

"It cannot be right that the provincial [health] department buys bedding and somebody stores it away," Dr Tshabalala-Msimang said.

"I always tell people to use public hospitals, but from what I saw today I would also hesitate to come here," she added.

Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the main hospital serving the 900,000 people of Soweto, a city built in the apartheid era as a black residential area near Johannesburg.

Correspondents say South Africa's health system is struggling to deal with the Aids epidemic, and with years of under-investment in basic services during apartheid.

I bet a hundred years from now they will still be blaming South Africa's problems on apartheid.

Typhoid outbreak could have been avoided - Msimang

How does SA manage to cope with Manto Tshabalala-Msimang?

Aids groups condemn South Africa's 'Dr Garlic'

South African Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang Defends Group Claiming Vitamins Can Prevent AIDS-Related Death

'Look what Bush is doing. He could invade'