Gauteng Health sign MoU with Medical Aid Schemes and their Administrators in a bid to curb the burden of lifestyle diseases
The Gauteng Department of Health (GDOH) in partnership with Medical Schemes and their Administrators today officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the public private partnership to support the GDOH in various activities associated with executing plans linked to the provincial Health, Wellness and Happiness (HWH) strategies and campaign to achieve its objectives.
This initiative is aimed at scaling up efforts to curb the rising mental health problems, lifestyle deceases and trauma cases through promotion and roll out of the Health, Wellness and Happiness Programme. The partnership will further assist and support the GDOH by sharing knowledge on development and implementation of scalable interventions linked to the Gauteng Provincial Health, HWH strategies, implementation plans and measurements or impact tracking.
“The parties will, as part of the “Think Tank”, advise or share ideas to craft and develop strategies for the Health, Wellness and Happiness campaign and ensure that relevant stakeholders and resources are availed to achieve its objectives,” said MEC Ramokgopa.
The three year HWH campaign was launched in November last year in an effort to push back the prevailing disease burden ravaging communities. Thus, this partnership was chosen for these parties to consider sharing, engage and co-develop the best management practices to improve the Health and Wellness of the communities in Gauteng and the society at large. Furthermore, they will share information to develop plans for addressing the Health and Wellness challenges in the province as per the legislation pertaining to the Protection of Personal Information Act.
“It’s enshrined in The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 2 - Bill of Rights, section 27, people have the right to have access to health care services and section 24 enforces the right to an environment that is not harmful to the health and well-being of all South Africans,” added MEC Ramokgopa.
In Gauteng, there has been many achievements in improving access to health care, however, much more still needs to be done in terms of quality of care, making health promotion and prevention of ill health services available to all, and ensuring better health outcomes. It is for this reason that this initiative was agreed upon and hopefully this will assist the Department in its efforts to improve the health of the people of Gauteng.
Medical Aid schemes and Administrators who are currently partnering with the Department in this initiative are Gems, Discovery Health, Medscheme, and the Metropolitan Health Corporation. Through the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA), the GDOH is in the process of engaging several Private Hospital Groups to partner on various initiatives in addressing the reduction of surgical backlogs and other areas of priority for the Department.
Enquiries:
Khutso Rabothata
Cell: 060 997 7066
E-mail: mediaenquiries@gauteng.gov.za
