|
|
 |
Government to hand out anti-retrovirals soon - Western Cape Health MEC
Jo-Anne Smetherham. 05 June 2003. Cape Times. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
|
The government will soon decide on implementing anti-retroviral programmes in the public sector, and it's not a question of whether, but how much.
This was the word from Western Cape Health MEC Piet Meyer in his budget speech in the provincial legislature yesterday.
He said his information came from a meeting of health MECs with Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
It would be up to the cabinet, rather than the health or finance departments, to decide on anti-retroviral programmes.
He said the health and treasury department task team that recently compiled a costing report on anti-retrovirals had given the cabinet three options. The first was that "a certain percentage" under 60% of people needing anti-retrovirals would get the drugs, he said. The second was that 60% would be given them, and the third was that all would.
"When, and I am confident it will be soon, the decision is made to roll out such treatment programmes, the Western Cape will again be well placed to take the lead," Meyer told the assembly in the provincial legislature.
Meyer's budget speech was prefaced by a plea to the national government for more money for health. The resources available to the health sector in South Africa, and particularly in the Western Cape, were "not sufficient to meet the legitimate expectations of the population of the province", he said.
"In my humble opinion, a national debate is urgently needed to re-examine the minimum acceptable level of health service funding," he said.
It has been argued that the Western Cape is over-resourced but the current service level in the province was "the very minimum that all the people of this country should expect", he said.
Meyer presented a health budget of R4.29 billion in total, which constituted 26.2% of the total provincial budget and was an increase of 10.85% on last year's health budget. He said:
- 62% of the provincial budget would be spent on salaries;
- R54.8 million would be spent on HIV/Aids projects;
- R20m had been allocated to new construction, R36m to rehabilitation of health facilities and R81m to revitalise regional hospitals in George, Worcester and the start of upgrading the Vredenburg Hospital.
The treasury had allocated an additional R40m for new equipment, with R42m and R44m to be allocated in the following two years respectively. The equipment backlog, however, stands at R300m.
The department faced a shortfall of over R100m if expenditure from the previous financial year was projected into 2003/2004, Meyer said.
"The budget for drugs and medical consumables is under enormous pressure, particularly in the large teaching hospitals of Groote Schuur and Tygerberg," he said. "I cannot categorically pledge that the department will be able to remain within the allocated budget. Something will have to give."
The budget was a holding budget that did not take into account the costs of implementing Healthcare 2010, the province's plan to streamline healthcare, with more emphasis on primary health services.
The province was faced with an increasing burden of disease that included a rise in foetal alcohol syndrome births and trauma and one of the highest tuberculosis rates in the world.
|
| Was this article helpful to you? |
 ?100%???? ?0%
|
|
Back
|
|
|
|
