Programme director,
MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe,
Our hardworking officials in the Department of Health,
Our friends in the media,
Ladies and gentlemen
During my State of the Province Address I noted that our dream of a better life for all will be deferred to eternity if we do not take care of the health of our population. I said this because of the knowledge that a healthy nation is a winning nation.
I then proceeded to reaffirm the commitment of our government to the provisioning of a comprehensive health service that promotes good health, prevent illness, and provide care and rehabilitative services to the ill and people with disabilities.
We said then that ‘we are working in partnership with the national government to ensure the successful implementation of the National Health Insurance Plan. This will help us to strengthen and expand our free primary health care programme, improve management of public hospitals, and reduce the costs of private health care’.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I also did announce in the same State of the Province Address that we have developed a Public Health Turnaround Strategy to be implemented immediately. To that effect I announce that we had set aside no less than R145 million to purchase and repair critical equipments for all our hospitals in need. It is our firm believe that this Turnaround Strategy will go a long way in improving the conditions of our health facilities and ensuring universal access to primary healthcare services.
Responding to the issue of the shortage of doctors in our hospitals I committed our government to send no less than 110 medical students to Cuba in this Financial Year.
Exactly less than 10 days ago we were in a send-off ceremony for 110 medical students to Cuba. We are not just speaking, we are implementing. When the President announced in his State of the Nation Address that ‘by January next year, the first intake of medical students will be enrolled at a new medical school at the University of Limpopo’, I, on behalf of our Provincial
Government announced that we will be offering bursaries to this first intake of medical students. We will defiantly keep this promise.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We announced in the State of the Province Address that in an effort to improve the response time of our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) we were going to purchase no less than 50 ambulances in this current financial year.
Today we are here to breathe life to that promise. We are here in a symbolic ritual to officially hand over 13 ambulances to our healthcare facilities across the province as part of the promise we made to the people of our province in June this year. We are also awaiting delivery of 10 other ambulances in a space of two weeks from today. The last batch of 27 other ambulances is also expected to be delivered to our EMS stations by December this year. These ambulances will be shared proportionally per province in accordance with demand.
I hold no doubt Honourable MEC that these ambulances come as a welcome relief to our Emergency Medical Services. With these ambulances more lives will be saved. I also wish to challenge those in whose care these ambulances will be, to use them only for their intended purpose. We do not want to read about these vehicles being used to fetch kids from school. I know however that I we can always count on our friends in the media in case of any abuse of this vehicles.
In conclusion, I wish to thank the dedication of MEC Kgetjepe and his team of officials to bring about access to quality healthcare to all our people. If we all can work together, we surely can turnaround our public healthcare system. This is only the beginning, we are at work and nothing should stop us.
I thank you!
