The rural town of Harding, south of KwaZulu-Natal today was abuzz as more than 200 local business people, political, religious and traditional leaders gathered in the local town hall to give budget tips to MEC for Finance, Ina Cronjé during the pre-budget breakfast and to welcome the official opening of the two clinics worth R14 million in the area by MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
The pre-budget roadshow is a consultative exercise by Provincial Treasury ahead of the provincial budget presentation on 8 March 2011 while the opening of clinics is a firm attempt to address issues of primary health care in Harding. MEC for Agriculture, Lydia Johnson also outlined the need for communities to start own gardens.
The event, which eventually attracted 5 000 community members, culminated in kwaMbonwa open field, is billed to be the biggest service delivery drive in the area by government in a bid to change people’s lives.
This service delivery drive was organised by the Povincial Treasury and Department of Health in partnership with Umuziwabantu Municipality.
Outlining the budget process, Cronjé emphasised the need for community participation in the formulation of the budget so that government can be better informed of the needs and challenges facing them.
“This is also a way of ensuring community participation in governance,” she said.
Emphasising measures guiding expenditure for public institutions, she said that the said institutions must observe principles of on-budget expenditure, obtaining clean audits, cutting unnecessary costs, getting value for money and doing more with less as well as dealing with corruption and deliberate wrong doing.
“Government must deliver more services, more effectively with less money,” she said.
Dr Dhlomo said the opening of the two clinics in Santombe and kwaMbonwa areas is an indication by government that it is committed to improving health care in this area and in the province in general.
“The clinics which are already operating will make it possible for all the local people to access healthcare without travelling long distances to hospitals. They will also make it possible for all expectant mothers to access both ante-natal and post natal care. It will now remain the responsibility of Amakhosi and religious leaders to ensure that every woman that is pregnant does attend the clinics. They also have to ensure that no girl of 18 years and less fall pregnant as according to the World Health Organisation a body of a person of that age is not ready for that task.’
Dhlomo donated 5 wheelchairs, 10 walking sticks and 10 medication bags, Cronjé donated two laptop computers to two local schools while Johnson donated hoes and seed.
For more information, contact:
Musa Cebisa
Cell: 071 6878 777 or
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083 447 2869
Background on clinics
The Department of Health is officially opening clinics as a means of promoting Primary Health Care which it sees as an ‘essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology, made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination.’ (Alma Alta Declaration, 1978). “The aim of primary healthcare (PHC) is to ensure that all people, rich and poor, are able to access the services necessary for realising the highest level of health,” says MEC Dhlomo.
As a province that is faced with a high disease burden around unacceptably high incidence of TB, HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) among the 10 – 24 year olds; high maternal and child mortality and morbidity;high incidence of non-communicable diseases as well as the high trauma and violence cases. With regards to sexual and reproductive health, as the President indicated in the State of the National Address, where he said; ‘Given our emphasis on women’s health, we will broaden the scope of reproductive health rights and provide services related to amongst others, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy and sanitary towels for the indigent.’
The department believes that this type of emphasis can be best achieved if the department is able to connect people with their clinics and the service is delivered at primary health care level; as these services are seen as. . . the collection of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations, and not merely counselling and care related to reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases. (International Conferences on Population and Development in 1999)
The department hopes that by promoting the use of clinics it will help in the attainment of a better health for all. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified five key elements to achieving that goal as: (i) reducing exclusion and social disparities in health; (ii) organising health services around people's needs and expectations; (iii) integrating health into all sectors; (iv) pursuing collaborative models of policy dialogue; and (v) increasing stakeholder participation. “As government we are committed to delivering healthcare that reorganise health services as primary care, i.e. around people’s needs and expectations, so as to make them more relevant and more responsive to the changing world, while producing better outcomes. So; I am glad that my colleague MEC Cronje will be with me as we ensure that we give effect to the government’s commitment of building a social compact for better health outcomes.” says MEC Dhlomo.
