Honourable Speaker;
Honourable Premier;
Honourable Members of the Executive Council;
Honourable Members;
Members of the Mayoral Committees for Health from all the Municipalities of our Province;
CEO’s of Hospitals;
Deans of Medical Schools;
Business people here present;
Distinguished Guests;
To the People of Gauteng listening to the 20 community radio stations covering the speech;
Family and Friends;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I rise to table the Gauteng Health 2015/16 budget vote. The budget allocated to the Gauteng Department of Health, is R34, 2 billion.
Borrowing from the wise words of an Italian artist, poet and sculptor; Michelangelo: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark”.
We owe it to the people of Gauteng to set the bar higher and every day we must strive to achieve our vision and take tough decisions that will ensure we provide high-quality efficient and accessible healthcare to transform the lives of our people who only hope is the public health care sector.
The National Development Plan (NDP): Vision 2030 calls on us to write a new story that works for everyone and produces positive health outcomes. As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter we are reminded of the call for “Free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children” and the NDP goals through the roll out of National Health Insurance (NHI) as the vehicle to achieve the vision set out in the Freedom Charter.
There is clear disparity in our Health Care System as evidenced in the fact that 16, 088 beds serving are 79% of uninsured citizens of our Province and 16,276 servicing 21% of the medical insured population. The NHI is aptly aimed at strengthening the overburdened public sector by equitably allocating resources so that we could progressively realize universal access to quality health care services in line with provisions of our constitution
Madam Speaker; NHI does not only encompasses the creation of a national fund and regulatory framework but also includes the setting of National Core Standards (NCS), ensuring availability of service where our people live and work, access to medicines at all times and introducing healthcare infrastructure of the 21st century.
According to the assessments conducted by the National Office of Health Standards Compliance, Gauteng achieved the highest score and has been rated number one in the Country for the three consecutive years.
