On Thursday last week (29 March), the parliamentary health and home affairs portfolio committees visited eThekwini to check the state of readiness of the city to host the FIFA World Cup 2010 and gave the health department thumbs up.
The parliamentary visit was organised through the host cities to look at the state of readiness by various departments, including the Department of Health. The department was invited through the municipal department of health to present its general plan to health and home affairs sub-committees. The sub-committees were led by the Chairperson of the Health Portfolio Committee, Dr Bevani Goqwana and accompanied by three other members from health and home affairs.
The main areas of focus were as follows;
-·Capacity to deal with major disasters in hospitals
-·Integration of port health service with home affairs
-·Integrated plans for dealing with human and child trafficking, as well as prostitution
-·Identification of body storage sites for mass deaths
-·Strategic partnerships with private and non-governmental organisation (NGO) sectors
-·Transportation of patients
-·Hospital infrastructure upgrades.
“From the presentations we heard, the level of integration and cooperation within the government levels and the advancement of the preparations, we are sincerely satisfied. As part of our oversight role, we will ensure that funding is provided for infrastructure improvements that are still outstanding,” says Dr Bevani Goqwana: Chairperson of the Health Portfolio Committee (National Parliament).
For contact details of Dr Goqwana, please contact:
Mr Jerry Boltina
Tel: 021 403 8270
Cell: 083 338 3950
E-mail: or jmboltina@parliament.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
12 April 2010
