Speech by the Gauteng MEC Hope Papo for Health on the occasion of a cheque handover ceremony of a donation of R10 million towards the building of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital
Members of the Board of Trustees of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund;
USA Ambassador to South Africa, Mr Patrick Gaspard;
President and CEO of General Electric Healthcare Africa; Mr Farid Fezoua;
Project Sales Director of General Electric Healthcare, Mr Graham Maritz
Chief Executive Officer of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; Ms Sibongile Mkhabela;
Ladies and gentlemen
The discussions to build a quaternary children’s hospital in honour of the late former President of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, began in earnest around 2001.
The first policy decision he made soon after being sworn in as President of the Republic, pertained to free health care to children under the age of six and to pregnant women.
This ground-breaking policy decision was based on his acknowledgement that poor health among children in the developing world is a threat not only to them but also to future generations.
His approach to children’s rights was exemplified in his words when he launched the blue train on 27 September 1997: “The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children.”
As government we have always prioritised the health of our children. We provide care for children before they are born, during birth, after birth and during their schooling years.
In 1997 we ensured that deaths during child-birth should be notifiable. Since 1994 we have ensured that we increase the percentage of mothers receiving antenatal care coverage in order to ensure that they deliver healthy babies. We have also reduced childhood illnesses and deaths, for example, incidences of diarrhoea among children less than five years. We have also improved immunisation coverage among children under one year of age increased.
In 2008 we introduced pneumococcal vaccines at our hospitals and clinics in order to reduce the burden of infant mortality. Prioritising children’s health has ensured that we edge closer to achieving the fourth Millennium Development Goal which is the reduction of infant mortalities.
In order to achieve this goal we continue to provide the following services:
- Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV
- Immunisation, whose coverage currently stands above 97%;
- Nutrition, through crèche feeding –
- Growth monitoring and Development;
- Integrated Management of Child hood Illnesses;
- Kangaroo Mother Care; and
- Perinatal Problem Identification Programme.
Programme Director,
The donation by General Electric will go a long way towards ensuring that children are treated by specialists. The hospital that is envisaged will offer specialised services and academic training for specialist doctors.
I have been reliably informed that our continent suffers from a shortage of dedicated paediatric facilities, with only four such facilities on the continent – two in Cairo, one in Nairobi and one in Cape Town.
This compares dismally to the 23 children’s hospitals in Canada, 19 in Australia, 20 in Germany and 157 in the United States. A need for a specialised children’s hospital can never be under estimated.
As government we have always believed that partnerships with the private sector will go a long way towards improving the health status of our people.
As construction of this planned children’s hospital is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2014, we trust that more private sector companies will partner with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund to make the dream of former president Nelson Mandela, a reality.
As government we remain committed to ensure that it indeed becomes a reality. That is why we committed to provide operational costs once the hospital is completed and functional. It is also an undeniable fact that public hospitals are a training platform for the majority if not all specialists.
We pride ourselves in the fact that the specialists who will provide health care at the children’s hospital will have received training at our hospitals. I have no doubt that the people of Gauteng, and other prospective partners will take up the challenge to make our icon’s dream a reality. Once more we value the partnership that General Electric has entered into with Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
