Covid-19, hospital upgrades and a new renal dialysis unit are among the many standout moments of the last few years Dr Silvio Morales-Perez has presided over while at the helm of Vredenburg Provincial Hospital.
After being appointed Medical Manager of the Saldanha Bay sub-district in May 2017 he made the West Coast his home. Now Morales-Perez is moving on, and Weslander asked him about his time on the coast.
Completing his medical training in his home country, Cuba, in 1990, he has worked in South Africa since 1996.
“Since then I have been in many hospitals, have occupied different positions, from a medical officer, clinical manager, acting medical manager and now medical manager,” he pointed out. “Clearly for one to occupy such a position there has to be a history behind it, something that made it possible for me to step up and apply for the position here.”
Morales-Perez said when he started he knew the most important part of his job was to keep the hospital running, with visitors leaving with the impression that the hospital was a private one due to the cleanness and competent staff, despite the infrastructure issues.
“From day 1 I identified communication had been a problem among my staff and in serving the community. I always took the opportunity to walk around, engage with them on all levels and set an example that there is no barrier between us. And when visitors come here they must feel the sense of ownership – this is a public building and everyone belongs here.”
Steering the hospital through the pandemic meant a re-structuring in the hospital’s operation. The paediatric ward was converted into an isolation ward which could hold 34 patients. Morales-Perez says the hospital did well during this trying time. “We had close interrelation with the staff, showed them we were here, and we didn’t lose any of them due to Covid-related illness.”
Over the last five years he also welcomed the opening of the local Renal Dialysis Unit as part of a public-private partnership. This meant the hospital’s 10 patients could receive their much-needed dialysis free of charge with no need to travel to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
“We also opened a brand-new clinic in Louwville,” Morales-Perez said. “After the Diazville Clinic was set on fire in 2017 we rebuilt a prefab clinic and the new clinic in Steenberg’s Cove was built. It will soon be opened by the Minister of Health.”
He said various clinics were renovated during his tenure, but they were never done alone, what with major input from the sub-district and other external stakeholders, the private hospital, the Saldanha Bay Municipality as well as many others.
According to Morales-Perez this interaction among stakeholders, staff and the community was among the many lessons he learnt here. “Never take anything for granted. You must improvise, come to ground level if you work with the people and understand where they are coming from, and they will eventually work with you.”
Morales-Perez believes it was specifically his background that helped him in his former position. “I did occupy management positions in my country of origin, which facilitated a bit of my growth here in South Africa. This job comes with a lot of challenges, and if you want to succeed you must understand the lie of the land, have listening skills and the most important lesson is to have patience and be patient.” Morales-Perez said from now on he would continue to put the lessons he learnt on the West Coast into practice, but always remember that others can teach him new things because one is never too old to learn.
At his farewell someone claimed it would be difficult for someone new to step into the doctor’s shoes, but his response was that it was easy to step into his 7½ boots, the challenge would be how often the new hospital CEO would have to change the shoes. “This means to reflect on what you have done for the best of the institution and for the community. My open-door policy assisted me in interacting with my staff and the public and gain knowledge of what was happening in my sub-district. I never denied anyone who came knocking on my door the opportunity to express their concerns. One simple piece of advice I can give is to be a ‘people person’.”
Morales-Perez said he would miss the staff, the community and those he worked with closely, while outside the hospital’s walls he would miss the West Coast’s beauty and excellent food.
