3 July 2007
The quality of Primary Health Care (PHC) delivered to people in developing
countries, including ours, is often poor and coverage is not yet universal.
This is despite a focus on the public delivery of comprehensive PHC over the
past 13 years. This problem has been exacerbated by the poor road
infrastructure that exists in the rural areas of our province. This has also
hindered the delivery of much needed emergency health care as well as the
enhancement of the Primary Health Care approach in service delivery.
The mobile clinic handover forms part of the MEC's commitment to enhance the
mobile clinic services especially in the rural areas. In the 2005/06 financial
year 74 mobile clinics at a cost of R10 million were added to the current
fleet. The current contingent, being handed over by the MEC forms part of the
2006/07 financial year fleet addition. This fleet of 50 mobile clinics costs R8
million and it has enhanced safety features. These vehicles will greatly
benefit the community of Umzimkhulu who were recently incorporated into
KwaZulu-Natal.
In the 2008/09 financial year we will see a further increase in the fleet by
98 mobile clinics which will have bigger engine capacity in order to be able to
cope with the terrain.
When the democratic government came to power the Department of Health
adopted primary health care as an approach that could enhance the delivery of
health care services and disease prevention. To date great strides have been
made to ensure that the poor have access to health care.
The media is invited to attend and report on the handover ceremony which
will be held as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Time: 09h30
Venue: Wentworth Hospital, Quality Street
For more information contact
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083 447 2869
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
3 July 2007
