Motsoaledi puts South Africans on a road to a long and healthy life in his budget speech
30 April 2012
The
Department of Health is taking a series of steps to improve the health
of South Africans. This was said by Minister Aaron Motsoaledi when he
tabled the R27,6 billion health budget for the year 2012/13 in
Parliament.
In his budget, the Minister allocated
R10-million per annum for the forensic laboratories to purchase
equipment and appoint staff to address backlogs. The Department
recently appointed 70 unemployed graduates with degrees in Chemistry,
Bio-Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
An amount of R9 million
will be used to set up a unit to monitor and support provincial finances
and improve audit outcomes in the current financial year.
The
Minister said his Department would work on four outputs in its quest to
deliver a long and healthy life for all South Africans.
The
outputs are to improve the life expectancy of all South Africans,
decrease Maternal and Child Mortality, improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the healthcare system and deal with the scourge of
HIV, AIDS and TB.
According to the Minister, the Department has
tested 15 million South Africans for HIV counselled and placed 1,6
million South Africans on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.
"We
have increased the number of nurses certified to initiate ARV treatment
from 250 in February 2010 to 10 000 in April 2012. We have reduced
transmission of HIV from mother to child transmission from 8% in 2008 to
3,5% in 2011 or even to 2,5% in the case of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).This is
a reduction of over 50%.This success allowed us to save 30 000 babies
from contracting HIV from their mothers."
