Sihlalo weNdlu, uhlahlo lwabiwo-mali yeSebe lezeMpilo alusetyenziselwa abantu baseMzantsi Afrika. Sibane sixelelwa ukuba imali ayikho kodwa ingxaki yeyokuba imali ekhoyo ayisetyenziswa kwiinkonzo eziya eluntwini. Eyona nto ecace mhlophe kule nkqubo yoHlaziyo loHlahlo lwabiwo- mali yeyokuba urhulumente akazimiselanga ukulungisa inkqubo yezempilo yethu.
Uluntu lwaseMzantsi Afrika luthenjiswe nge-Inshorensi yezeMpilo yeSizwe okungathi lo Mthetho oYilwayo wenzelwe ukulungisa ezempilo. Akukhonto ebuhlungu njengokubukela urhulumente okhekelwa yi-ANC elahlekisa abantu kwaye bethembisa ngezinto ezingasokuze ziphunyezwe.
[Kwaqhwatywa.] Lo Mthetho awusayi kufaka abongikazi noogqirha ezibhedlele naseziklinikhi; awusayi kuzisa amayeza aza kunceda abantu; awusayi kuqinisekisa ukuba abantu abalindi imini yonke besiya kufuna uncedo; kwaye awusayi kuphelisa urhwaphilizo kweli sebe.
Lo Mthetho uza kuzisa ukubiwa kwemali ngabo baseLuthuli House kwaye uza kunyusela ngerhafu abantu abahleli benemivuzo engaphucukanga. Ukuphuculwa kwezempilo yinto i-DA ezimisele kuyo kodwa lona uMthetho uza kusibuyisela umva. Abantu bethu baza kuhlala bengamaxhoba karhulumente ongakhathaliyo. UNondyebo uyibeke yacaca mhlophe ukuba imali efunwa ngaba bantu bafuna lo Mthetho ayikho. UMphathiswa uMkhize weli sebe uqine enyaleni yena kuquka namalungu e-ANC akwiKomiti yeMicimbi yeSebe lezeMpilo azimisele ukuba ziimbongi njee zalo Mphathiswa. La malungu awazimiselanga ukukhonza abantu abasinyulileyo.
Singumbutho weDA, sifuna ukuba iinkonzo ezisemgangathweni zisiwe ebantwini kwaye siqinisekise ukuba imali yoluntu ayibiwa ngabantu abanyolukileyo. Asiyixhasi leNgxelo yoHlaziyo loHlahlo lwabiwo-mali. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
Thank you House Chairperson, the EFF rejects the Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report, BRRR, of the Portfolio Committee on Health. This is fundamentally the reason why the government has failed and refuse to admit to our people that it has ushered a complete collapse of the public health care system our country.
Children as young as three-years-old with hearing disabilities are expected to buy their own hearing aids. The department has also failed to regulate the compensation of miners as there are no repercussions whatsoever for mining companies who do not compensate miners for sicknesses and death due to mining.
Nine out of 10 people living and receiving antiretroviral drugs, ARV, treatments are female and yet there is still no effective programme by the department to address the stigma in men's communities. Young women are still being used as HIV testing kits by men is a form of gender-based violence and should be treated as such by the department.
For a government that fakes being concerned about preventing new HIV infections, it is disingenuous that post-exposure prophylaxis, PEP, is only accessible to those who have access to private doctors and prescriptions. According to this government, easy access to PEP is only attainable by the poor if they are raped.
The National Health Insurance, NHI, referral system is also very unrealistic for those living in remote areas. Currently, our people have to set appointments to see doctors in clinics and sometimes have to wait for up to two weeks in dejected areas like Upington. The poor will literally die waiting to get referral letters.
We repeat that the focus of the department must move to prevention, primary health care, and education on health care. If you are committed to lessening the burden of disease, ensure that each clinic and hospital has adequate staff, that infrastructure is prioritised and ward-based with 24- hour health facilities in each ward. Otherwise, it is futile to take our youth to Cuba to study medicine through a system that focuses on prevention and primary health care only to come back to
South Africa and be under utilised because our government is full of lazy thinkers and filled with thugs. We reject this report. [Applause.]
House Chairperson, the state of public health care in South Africa leaves me with a cause of great concern. For over a decade, we have witnessed this government struggle with the provision of better health care services.
We have heard on numerous occasions that government is fully overwhelmed with the health care system. We heard about the ageing infrastructure and the strengthening of medical innovation research and development. We have heard about government's plans to improve human resource management, planning and development. We have heard about the provision of adequate and community-based care especially in rural areas. We have heard these promises from government for well over a decade now yet 10 years later, we are still faced with the same challenges.
In 2009, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefi Sefularo, said and I quote: "These are the priorities
that you should hold us, as the Department of Health, accountable for in the coming five years of governance." Now, who will account for this? The truth is that the situation has not improved, it has only worsened.
We need government reforms and accountability in the health care sector immediately. We must root out all forms institutionalisation and corruption before we even start with the NHI. The IFP supports the BRRR. [Applause.]
Afrikaans:
Agb Voorsitter, dit was nogal ontstellend om te verneem dat die Departement van Gesondheid met 'n begrag van R1 miljard onderspandeer het.
English:
It is not surprising that our state hospitals and clinics are in such a terrible condition. The Auditor-General reported to the committee that hospitals in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State don't make use of
their medical equipments which were bought for an amount of R13,2 million since 2015.
Words like infrastructure or deficiencies, lack of secured and controlled access to all filing and storage areas, lack of sufficient infrastructure, lack of implementation, lack of ongoing maintenance, lack of approved maintenance plan and sufficient training, lack of medicine, and lack of overall service delivery.
Afrikaans:
Die gevalle wat die afgelope tyd deur die publiek aangemeld is oor wat by staatshospitale aan die gang is, is skrikwekkend en skokkend.
English:
A two-year-old girl passed away because she had to wait up to nine hours to be admitted at the Tshwane District Hospital. Old people are tied with chains to chairs at the Mamelodi Hospital. A patient with a blood clot through his heart had to wait up to seventeen hours to be admitted at the Tshwane District Hospital.
Around 3 800 died in Gauteng hospitals in 2018-19 financial year due to medical negligence as reported by the MEC for Health in Gauteng. My question is: Are there any of the ANC members here who are willing to be admitted to a state hospital? If not so, why do you want the South African public to go and be admitted at a state hospital if you aren't willing to be treated there yourselves? What is happening at state hospitals in South Africa is an absolute disgrace.
If this government is under the impression that the NHI is going to fix all of these problems, then it needs to think very hard again. Play time is over. The FFPlus doesn't support the report. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon House Chairperson, in considering this report, the ACDP firstly wish to acknowledge the important role of nurses in reaching the objectives of a healthy nation. It is our nurses who are at the forefront of educating communities on Diabetes, Tuberculosis, TB, and HIV at a primary level. These dedicated professionals are critical to ensuring that we reach our goal of a
nation living a healthy life and living up to 70 years of age.
Our biggest concern in this budget report lies under Programme 5. The continuous development of nurses falls under this programme. This programme is responsible for hospitals.
Afrikaans:
Die werklikheid van hierdie verslag kan gesien word deur die siek mense by ons hospitale. Die aanklagte van mediese wanpraktyk teen die departement is 'n bywys van die werklikheid van die verslag. Dit is veral ons ou mense en mense in landelike gebiede wat onder personeeltekorte ly, wat bydra tot swak diens.
Hierdie probleem gaan nie deur die Nasionale Gesondheidsversekering opgelos word nie. Ons land gaan nou deur 'n transformasie met die Nasionale Gesodheidsversekering, maar die basiese infrastruktuur moet tog herstel word voor ons hierdie groot projek begin.
Menslike ontwikkeling en retensie van spesialiste is die basiese bousteen van die stelsel. [Tyd verstreke.] Baie dankie.
Thank you hon House Chairperson, the NFP notes and welcome the report tabled here on the Department of Health. What is common knowledge here and seeming to be the norm is that we always tend to spend our money but when it is time to get value for it, that's when we fall flat. Again, this department is guilty of having spent most of the budget allocated to it but it has underperformed.
Irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure continues. I want to remind my friend from the FFPlus that whilst I will acknowledge that, yes, we have serious challenges in the health sector, so does the private sector at the moment with regards to health care despite the fact that people on the ground pay a lot of money for private health care in South Africa.
Health care practitioners in rural areas are badly affected particularly because there seems to be a
shortage of medical specialists and nursing staff. Medical negligence appears to be on the rise. The Health Professions Council of SA, HPCSA, has been poorly performing with regards to its accreditation, and time and again, we find that there are those that are practising as medical practitioners but aren't accredited and have no necessary qualification. There are serious weaknesses with regard to that.
The audit report clearly shows that provinces have a shortage of medicine or stock outs that we referred to and not paying the creditors within 30 days continues. It appears to be a serious problem.
The concern that arises is that if these weaknesses and challenges are not addressed, how are we going to implement the NHI? That's why we believe that more attention must be given to the challenges, but very importantly, 80% of the diseases are caused by what we eat and there is no control measures with regard to the food that is provided on the streets and in different businesses. The NFP supports the report tabled here. [Applause.]
Thank you very much House Chairperson, unlike those that are rented by big business who came up with a barrage of propaganda trying to undermine the NHI. The people's glorious movement - the ANC rises in support of the BRRR on the Portfolio Committee on Health.
Health remains a priority for the ANC-led government. It is within this context that we came up with a progressive policy shift since the 1994 breakthrough in the form of a single unified system called the National Health Insurance of which the Bill is going through public hearings as we speak.
As the White Paper notes:
National Health Insurance represents a substantial policy shift that will necessitate a massive reorganisation of the current health care system, both public and private.
It reflects the kind of society we wish to live in; one based on the values of justice, fairness and social solidarity.
Implementation of the NHI is consistent with global vision that health care should be a social investment not a private commodified basic service. Implementation of the NHI is underpinned by the Vision 2030 of the NDP which envisages that by 2030, everyone must have access to equal standard of care regardless of their income and that common funds should enable that equitable access to health care regardless of what people can afford and how frequently they need to use the service.
Therefore, we welcome the recommendation that entities of the department such as the National Health Laboratory Service, NHLS, the Council for Medical Schemes, CMS, as well as the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority, SAHPRA, should provide ... [Time expired.] We support, okay. [Applause.]
Division demanded.
The House divided.