M Madlala-Routledge on behalf of M Tshabalala-Msimang: Awards of
Excellence in Healthcare ceremony

10 November 2006

Programme Director,
MECs for Health,
Director-General and heads of Health,
International guests,
Senior managers,
Sponsors supporting this event,
The Excellence Awards nominees,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Programme Director, kindly allow me to convey warm greetings from our
Minister of Health, Dr Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang, who unfortunately for
the first time in the history of these awards could not be here tonight. As you
well know she is recuperating at home after a brief spell of hospitalisation.
She is obeying the doctor's orders to relax at home. We also thank her for
obeying such orders and not allow her extreme commitment to work to interfere
with the need for recuperation. We salute her for the leadership she continues
to give to all of us.

Today marks the most significant ceremony on the Ministry and the Department
of Health calendar. I am pleased that we are now celebrating the fourth
combined ceremony of the Health Excellence Awards. When we initiated this
programme in 2002, it catered for the nursing profession only, i.e. the Cecilia
Makiwane Nurses' Recognition awards ceremony held at the University of South
Africa (Unisa). At that event President Thabo Mbeki gave the keynote address
and in his address referred to Ms Cecilia Makiwane who broke new ground, she
was a pioneer and a transformer in the nursing field. It is now her present day
colleagues who are pioneers and transformers that we are privileged to honour
today.

The nursing profession and the health system are deeply reliant on two
fundamental qualities suggested by the life of Cecilia Makiwane:

* a foundation of deeply held values and traditions
* the ability to rise to new challenges and grasp new opportunities and above
all to innovate in response to the needs of our people.

Health professionals perform many roles and responsibilities in our health
system; they teach, they serve and they research and develop innovations in
healthcare thus ensuring that our national health system serves more of our
people. Frequently, it is difficult to separate these roles in a highly
integrated workplace. The role of these awards is to recognise those
professionals who in their working lives have shown dedication, commitment and
excellence in providing service and therefore strengthening the health
system.

Our health professionals are in a unique position to assist in the social
and economic development of our nation. They are scientifically and technically
trained. They have values which are geared to preserving the health and dignity
of the patients.

Since 1994 our government has taken steps to encourage a more developmental
approach by adopting a primary health care (PHC) led strategy in the public
sector. Frequently our health programmes require broader social interventions
in a comprehensive programme aimed at the reduction and eradication of poverty
as well as direct healthcare programmes. Our public health system is straining
under our complex and heavy disease burden. We have to fight the battle across
three frontiers, dealing simultaneously with growing rates of communicable
disease, non-communicable diseases and trauma. We urgently need to strengthen
workforce planning to ensure that the country produces highly skilled
practitioners to serve our nation. Our partnership with other sister
departments like National Treasury must be strengthened so that we can
structure our health sciences education and training system towards producing
the right kind of professionals to serve this country. We must aim to produce
for self-sufficiency. It is also critical that as a country and the health
system we hold on to what we currently have. We must actively show that we
value these colleagues who do the best they can under very trying
circumstances. In addition we have to develop a cadre of management that is
more responsive to the needs of health professionals.

Following the launch of the National Human Resource for Health (HRH) plan in
April 2006, several professional groups are proactively engaging with the
Department of Health in developing strategies for preserving and retaining
professional categories in our health system. This is a very welcome sign that
we are all concerned about ensuring a robust health system, which is developed
through joint planning. It is encouraging that many private sector groups are
also putting their weight behind this initiative. Of course the plan needs to
go beyond and influence what we do at provincial and academic institution
levels. A number of provinces have commenced with developing province specific
HRH plans based on the national framework.

Some are modifying what they had already started drafting. What is very
gratifying with this work is the fact that these provincial plans have a strong
service transformation element to them which cannot be included in a national
framework. The end products should therefore be HRH plans that seek to respond
to the health needs of our communities.

This will assist the health sciences education and training institutions in
correctly focusing the training of health professionals to meet the needs of
society. The Department through a number of measures being implemented on
improving the planning, development and management of human resources (HR) is
planting the seeds for good practice in the HRH field.

As we forge ahead with the work I have just described, it is important that
we continue to honour those among us who serve as shining examples of
commitment and dedication to the service. They act as role models sometimes
unbeknown to them as young professionals look upon them to benchmark what they
do. These professionals represent the core of what healthcare is about. They
represent the values which are the basis of health professional training and we
are proud of the exemplary nature that they display. It is through displaying
such qualities that they are today recognised by their peers and their names
put forward for recognition at national level.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to remind you that this is not a contest.
Therefore, all those who had their names considered by their peers at local and
provincial levels share in that recognition. We have noticed significant
developments that have occurred since the first excellence awards.

Because of the success of the first awards, a unanimous decision was taken
at national level to hold combined awards and this was affected immediately in
2003. The seven awards presented included the following:

* Alfred Nzo Environmental Health Achievement Awards
* Cecilia Makiwane Nurses Recognition Awards
* District Health System Awards
* Health Professions Council of South Africa Awards
* Marilyn Lahana Trust Caring Awards
* South African Medical Association Awards.

We are now planning a team based award for those innovative projects which
involve teams of professionals especially those that bridge the public and
private sector divide, but are focused at community level. In fact these awards
are a good example of such partnerships and we are particularly grateful to our
sponsors for their support for excellence in healthcare.

As we hold this annual award ceremony, I wish to reiterate that as
government we have high regard for all categories of our health workers and
professionals. We appreciate their efforts and fully understand that health
workers are the most critical resource in meeting our constitutional mandate of
ensuring access to quality healthcare.

The different awards that will be presented tonight are our token of
appreciation for the valuable contribution of these health professionals to
improving the health of our population. We are aware that some of the health
categories are not yet adequately covered but the finalists and indeed the
winners to be announced tonight are role models for our younger health
professionals and for our country as a whole.

In our preliminary investigation on group projects, two provinces made
submissions on projects that are currently in place i.e. Gauteng and Western
Cape. I salute them for the initiative and promise that in 2007 more provinces
will come on board. A new participant in service excellence awards is the
Pharmacy Council which has promised to launch pharmacists' prizes in 2007.

It is pleasing to learn that there is a lot of buzz, excitement and
appreciation by health workers in the provinces and districts that precedes
this annual occasion. In effect this means that the finalists are looked upon
to make an even bigger difference, solely based on them getting national
recognition. You are expected to make a bigger difference to the lives of our
people that heed the call to action to bring about a better life. On our part
as government with the dedication and commitment of my colleagues the MECs, I
rededicate ourselves to making everything in our power to ensuring that we
continuously look at better ways of improving the working lives of our health
professionals. Your experience of the health system must turn you into
advocates so that the young choose careers in health.

To this end let me recognise our colleagues from the Department of Health in
the United Kingdom (UK) who are here tonight. They are Professor Anna Maslin,
Ms Liz Kidd, Ms Faluke Ajayi and Mr Jim O'Connell who participated in the
seminar on HRH that was held over the past two days. This seminar is held
annually under the auspices of our bilateral agreement with the UK in the
health sector.

I am informed that the seminar went very well and participants have
identified practical ways of strengthening the relationship concentrating on
tangible deliverables. We therefore thank Professor Maslin and her team for
their dedication to ensuring the success of our relationship as the two health
systems. Kindly convey this message to the UK Minister of Health.

On this note I would like to congratulate all provincial and national
finalists present here today and to indicate that for the Department of Health,
they are all winners in their own right. May you grow from strength to strength
because South Africa needs you!

I thank you ladies and gentlemen!

Issued by: Department of Health
10 November 2006