Programme Director
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
MEC’s for Health
WHO country representative
Acting Director-General for health
Surgeon general
2010 World Cup Unit of Department of Health
2010 provincial coordinators
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
We have gathered here seven days before the kick off of the FIFA World Cup to officially launch one of our services set to ensure effective coordination and flow of health information from all areas of activities into a central point for the duration of the tournament. As you are all aware our planning for this tournament started in 2006; and included the establishment of the coordinating units by provinces in 2007.
Since then, the 2010 health task team was led by the Department of Health, under the leadership of the late Deputy Minister and comprised of the SAMHS, the private health sector, non-profit organisations and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) medical services unit. The aim was to ensure that all within the health sector contribute to the success of the healthcare provision for the duration of the tournament.
Through this process, requirements for the tournament were finalised and resources required identified against what existed in all hosting provinces and in particular the host cities. As you know, we embarked on this project with the full intention of ensuring that the preparations that we make for the World Cup will result in legacy projects that will benefit South Africans long after the tournament has ended.
The South African public health infrastructure has been significantly upgraded through revitalisation of hospitals, procurement of health technology/equipment, procurement of EMS vehicles and equipment, EMS communication systems, recruitment and training of staff, strengthening of services in all major ports of entry etc.
We estimate that we have spent more than R2 billion to ensure seamless rendering of services to all targeted groups and citizens during this tournament. The department working together with the world cup unit will conduct a proper audit of the legacy resulting from our investment into preparations for the soccer spectacular and this will be announced by the Deputy President as chairman of the inter-ministerial committee as part of the country 2010 legacy project.
Ladies and gentlemen the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament will take place in host cities within provinces and our department will render services in all stadiums, fan parks, public viewing areas, and ports of entry. The national health operations centre, that I am launching today, has been established primarily to ensure seamless flow of health information between these activities through provincial health operations centres. Through the late Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefe Sefularo, my department asked the South African Military Health Service to help establish this facility to monitor and manage all health and medical incidents during the tournament. I would like to dedicate this centre to the memory of the late Dr Sefularo for his commitment to both ensuring that the health sector will be ready for the World Cup and generally to ensuing that the quality of care in the public health sector is improved.
This centre will receive daily incident reports from provinces and assess the trends in order to ensure appropriate interventions at all times. The centre will also monitor and support provinces in managing any possible outbreaks of diseases. We have established live linkages to ensure real time communication with provincial health operations centre.
Beyond the tournament this centre will be used by the Department of Health to manage disease outbreaks anywhere in the country and facilitate easy communication with the affected province. I have personally visited some provinces to assess the level of readiness against plans and can confidently attest to the fact that we are ready to respond to any eventuality that may occur including disasters.
We shall continue to confront complex challenges in the health sector with the limited resources at our disposal and this centre will allow us to become more efficient in gathering information and responding timeously and more effectively. The South African healthcare system will never be same after the World Cup and we shall build upon this to improve it for the better as outlined in our strategic plan.
I would like to thank the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, in particular the surgeon general and his team for supporting our planning process for this tournament. This indeed affirms our ability to work cooperatively as government departments and integrate our resources to ensure optimal utilisation of capacity that exists in the country. I would also like to thank the organising committee medical services unit, in particular Dr Victor Ramathesele for working with us to ensure that all requirements are met. The WHO has provided us with many specialists to assist our preparations, thank you very much for this support, to all MECs for health and HOD’s thanks very much for supporting and leading our provincial teams.
In spite of all our challenges we are destined to succeed in improving the quality of healthcare for all our people.
In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to wish our national team Bafana Bafana the best of luck with the tournament. We know you will hold our flag high as you take on the best in the world.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Health
3 June 2010
