Good day ladies and gentlemen of the media
I am very pleased that you were able to respond to our call. I called you here today, to share with you important health service delivery developments and also reveal the good news about our efforts to better serve the people of the North West Province.
A lot of things are changing and are continuing to change and we are dependent on you to complement our communication efforts to then transform these policy changes into simple information that our communities can better understand and digest. We say media is a watchdog and in our democracy we need a media that contributes to the developmental agenda which seek to empower the society about information and news that will better their lives.
The National Health Insurance (NHI) is one of the biggest drivers of transformation in our health care service delivery. It comes with huge changes that have implications which need to be communicated and which must never be misunderstood. You already know that Dr Kenneth Kaunda is our Pilot District. We continue to centralise expertise in that District and once we are satisfied of the outcome, we will roll out to other districts. We are speedily on course to implement the Primary Health Care (PHC) Re-engineering Programme which will lay a foundation for the smooth implementation of the NHI.
In order for us to effectively implement the NHI, we need the resources including budget, human resources and transport. Communities have complained about our EMRS response time. I am therefore proud to announce that we have added 65 services delivery vehicles to our red fleet at a combined fee of R21.5 million. The new fleet includes 31 ambulances, 18 mobile clinics, 8 patient transports, 2 Dental trucks and 6 Forensic Pathology vehicles. The vehicles will be distributed equitably guided by our need analysis and population register.
This development comes as we chart ways to aggressively respond to the plight of our communities and improve the response time. We are planning to establish and fund Emergency Medical Rescue Services satellite stations in the districts to improve response times. In line with the PHC Re-engineering Programme, we are on course to Reengineer Emergency Medical Services to improve the response times of ambulances to all communities to be in line with national targets.
I am also excited to announce that the National Treasury has awarded a tender for aeromedical services which is going to be used for specialised services to remote areas. In cases some of our patients in remote areas are in urgent need of specialised services, a specialist will be sent to them via aero medical services.
The procurement of dental mobile clinics are mainly aimed at improving health outcomes of our people especially those living in remote rural and farming communities of our Province. These communities are often marginalised and we are slowly but surely breaking that barricade. In the last financial year we acquired and distributed four new mobile dental clinics to improve access of oral health services. This was in addition to 18 existing dental mobile clinics.
Communities will be able to access dental health services easier. For the majority of the rural poor, it will mean quality dental care for the very first time. Oral diseases will be diagnosed early enough for prompt treatment. Preventative measures will help reduce future expensive treatment costs.
Challenges in this area of our work are now common to all of us including the communities we serve. One of these challenges is that whilst we procure more service delivery vehicles each year, we are always faced with the fact that we will have to retire some of them when they get old. Compounding this challenge is the long turnaround time for repairs on vehicles. The department has also previously dealt with cases of negligent driving on the part of our drivers.
The end results of this negligent behaviour has been that some of our ambulances spent more time in garages being serviced when they are supposed to be attending to emergencies on the road. This has led to substantial shortfall. I must warn that negligence is not tolerated and we will not hesitate to deal with those who are responsible. These vehicles are not for personal use, they are not for shopping groceries or for delivering beverages. Our communities need to assist us by reporting any anomalies concerning service delivery vehicles.
I have also established that some of the red fleet procured previously were not suitable for the conditions in which they are used. We are going to correct this in future procurement of the red fleet.
I must however emphasise that these vehicles will not completely eradicate shortage. We still have shortage but we do believe they will substantially improve the situation. We will continue to look for additional funding so that we may be able to procure more because we all know that shortage of vehicles hinders transportation of patients such as pregnant women to hospitals and clinics, the seriously sick and those who sustained injuries in road accidents.
Adverse events
Improving quality of care in our health facilities remains our key priority. Efforts to reduce unintended harm to patients or staff (“adverse events”) resulting from the care given, including from the operations and failures of the health system and its workers, through ignorance, inadequate inputs, systems failure or at time from negligence are high on quality care agenda.
We have established Patients Safety Programme Group which looks at adverse events affecting patients. All adverse events are identified and promptly responded to, in order to protect the patient from further harm and suffering. Adverse events are routinely analysed and managed in order to prevent recurrence to future patients, to learn from our mistakes and to respond to any Medico-legal cases.
The committee sits once a month and it comprises of managers from different disciplines within the department like Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery, Forensic Pathology, Family Medicine, Anesthesia, Nurses, EMRS and our Legal Service.
Office park building
I must thank you for the patience you exercised in waiting for us to update you on progress relating to the New Office Park Building. The progress has taken far too long and I thought we should update you.
The delay in the Department of Health occupying the Building was mainly due to the fact that we have been engaging with the owners for us to purchase the building.
I have called you here to inform you that it does not seem that we will have a solution any time soon because the matter has now gone to court. So the matter is still subjudice and we request you to respect that and allow the courts to decide on this matter. I would also like to bring it to your attention that we are not paying rental for an empty building.
I thank you!
For enquiries and interviews contact:
Tebogo Lekgethwane
Cell: 082 929 9958
E-mail:tlekgethwane@nwpg.gov.za
Media conference statement by North West Health MEC, Dr. Magome Masike on health service delivery developments and unveiling of new fleet of service delivery vehicles
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