Friday 01 November

PRESS RELEASE: NO PROGRESS WITH TENT CLINIC

Lusikisiki Village Clinic serves up to 7000 people a month in Qaukeni sub district in the Eastern Cape. The clinic had been operating out of a building in the centre of Lusikisiki since 2005. In January 2013, the Eastern Cape Department of Health moved the clinic out of the building and reopened it in an empty plot on the outskirts of town with a park home and two tents now intended to house the clinic.

SECTION27 calls for National Intervention in GDoH and needs-based budgeting to ensure access to health care services for all

SECTION27 has noted reports in today’s Times newspaper relating to the shortages in staff at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (CMH) and reports of the shocking impact this is having on services in the hospital.
The reports depict the pain, suffering and risks that are plaguing our hospitals and clinics. They reflect the anguish of doctors and nurses. But the crisis at CMH is a manifestation of a far larger problem. It relates to inadequate budgeting processes and poor management within the Gauteng Department of Health (GDOH).

Financial Crisis in the Eastern Cape Department of Health

May 30th 2012

Over the last two weeks SECTION27 together with our partners the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP), TAC, Africa Health Placements (AHP), Rural Rehabilitation South Africa (RuRESA), the Rural Doctors Association (RuDASA) and the South African Medical Association have received many reports from health care professionals and activists within the Eastern Cape who are concerned about the rapid decline in service delivery in the province.

These reports chronicle a variety of issues including non-payment of staff, drug stock-outs and shortages of basic medical supplies, and point to widespread systemic failures in the management and financing of services in the province. Although the crisis has been devastating to all types of state health facilities in the province, the impact of delayed or non-payment of critical healthcare workers and the difficulties in replacing such essential staff is even more acutely felt in rural areas, where healthcare teams are small and extremely fragile.

This briefing note for the public and the media outlines the tenuous financial position of the department, based on official internal Eastern Cape Department of Health documents that we have obtained.

Read the complete note by clicking “read more” below.

SECTION27 SUBMISSION ON THE NATIONAL HEALTH AMENDMENT BILL, B24 – 2011 12 March 2012

Find the full submission by clicking “read more” below.

SECTION27 welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on the National Health Amendment Bill, 2011 (“Bill”) to the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Health (“Committee”). We are very encouraged by the move by the Department of Health (“Department”) in taking steps to establish a single, accountable and independent Office of Health Standards Compliance (“Office) that has wide and far reaching powers to ensure quality health care services in both the private and public health systems. We consider this to be an important part of the state’s responsibility in terms of section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“Constitution”) to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to have access to health care services.

The newly formed National Health Insurance Coalition (NHIC) gives civil society voice on National Health Insurance

National Health Insurance holds the potential to drastically improve health care across South Africa; civil society is organising to secure its success.

Key members of civil society recently formed the National Health Insurance Coalition (NHIC) to collectively respond to and help develop National Health Insurance (NHI). The NHIC also intends to jointly endorse key submissions on NHI, encourage civil society participation in the NHI policy process and launch an advocacy campaign, among other things.

This week, the NHIC published a discussion document to facilitate exchange over the Green Paper on NHI. On 7 – 8 December 2011 the Department of Health (DoH) held an international consultation on NHI, during this consultation the NHIC held a successful side meeting to discuss the way forward.

To inquire about the National Health Insurance Coalition or join our efforts email: coordinator@phmsouthafrica.org. We can go far together.

WDA