(a) What total number of health inspectors are currently employed in each province, (b) what is the vacancy rate of health inspectors in each province and (c) by what date does his department intend to fill all the vacancies in each case?
a) The total number of Environmental Health Practitioners (Health Inspectors) per Province is as outlined in the table below under column 4:
b) The vacancy rate per Province as listed below in the table under column 5.
c) The department is not responsible for filling the vacancies of Environmental Health Practitioners (Health Inspectors) because these officials are working directly under 44 Districts and 8 ...
Whether, with regard to the Health Justice Initiative’s revelation that South Africa was forced to overpay for COVID-19 vaccines, and that the terms and conditions were overwhelmingly one-sided and favoured multinational corporations, he will ensure that South African representatives and negotiators working on the World Health Organisation Pandemic Treaty insist on including clauses that will (a) protect the (i) sovereignty of member countries and (ii) countries against extortion by pharmaceutical and other companies, as well as by member countries and (b) provide for consequence management, including arbitration, should extortion occur; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
South Africa’s representatives and negotiators working on the World Health Organisation (WHO) convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (WHO Pandemic Agreement) have participated in the various iterations of the development of a draft negotiation’s text to prepare for the actual negotiations. The latest version of the document under discussion is titled the “Advanced unedited version of the WHO ...
Regarding the struggle for foreign qualified doctors to register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) for every year since 2013, what (a) total number of foreign qualified doctors (i) applied to be registered with the HPCSA and (ii) were successfully registered and (b) were the reasons that the other doctors were not registered?
According to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the HPCSA underwent major organisational changes with substantive configurations that took effect in 2019/20. Regrettably, a lot of information from financial years prior to 2019 is still to be collated through the Knowledge Management Process. Currently, information as it relates to the question asked is available from 2017 as follows:
a) (i) The total ...
(1)What is the position of his department regarding the finding of the International Diabetes Federation that (a) the prevalence of sugar diabetes had more than doubled between 2011 and 2021 in the Republic, (b) approximately 4,2 million persons were living with diabetes and (c) by 2045 more than 7,4 million South Africans could be diabetic;
(2) whether his department intends to take any steps in this regard; if not, why not; if so, (a) how aggressively and (b) via which programmes is his department actively containing the spread of diabetes and/or succeeding with the given programmes;
(3) whether he will make a statement on the prevalence of diabetes and the implication it has for the South Africn society and its economy; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
1. (a), (b) and (c) The Department is concerned about the growing number of people diagnosed with diabetes. Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90% of all cases and is associated with obesity, unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or better managed when people make healthy lifestyle choices. It is for this reason that the Department is ...
Whether, with regard to the 11th SA AIDS Conference, 2023, that was held in Durban, his department ordered an expo stand; if so, (a) for how many days, (b) what was the cost of the stand (i) in total and (ii) for each day, (c) how (i) was the stand utilised and (ii) is return on investment measured in relation to the stand?
The National Department of Health organized an exhibition stand in collaboration with the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) during the 11th SA AIDS Conference.
a) The exhibition stand was on display for three (3) days in line with the exhibition hall operational period.
b) The total cost for the stand was -
- Total cost for three (3) days amounted to R1,055,951. The cost ...
Whether his department has any records of the number of workdays that have been lost to his department due to (a) sick leave and (b) strike action from 1 January 2019 up to 31 December 2022; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
a) Public Services employees are entitled to 36 sick leave days over a 3-year cycle as part of their basic conditions of services. In addition, the Annual Report of the National Department of Health publishes leave usage statistics on a year-to-year basis. These leave days are captured on the Transversal system that is administrated by National Treasury (PERSAL). The statistics are as follows:
Whether his department has records of the number of specialists in each specified area of specialisation (a) in each province, (b) in the public health service, and (c) in the private health service during the 2013-2023 period; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The data as requested is drawn from the Persal System and was extracted on 30 November 2023. Unfortunately, records on the Persal System are not able to provide granule data of each specialization as Specialists are not captured per specialization but per Professional Category.
(a)-(b) The table below responds to question (a) and (b) which is the data available on the Persal system. We ...
(1)What is the update on the current plans for the revitalisation and reopening of the Kempton Park Hospital, which has remained closed for 25 years;
(2) (a) what specific health services and facilities are envisaged for the revitalised Kempton Park Hospital and (b) how will such services and facilities address the healthcare needs of the surrounding communities;
(3) whether there were consultations with the local community regarding the plans for the specified hospital; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, how was the community feedback incorporated into the redevelopment strategy;
(4) what measures have been put in place to ensure that the hospital aligns with the healthcare priorities and expectations of the communities it serves?
1. The Gauteng Department of Health (GDOH) requested the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) to plan the renovation and refurbishment of the existing hospital infrastructure. The department was informed that the cost of renovations was comparatively too high as compared to the cost of building a new hospital. It was then decided that the existing hospital buildings should be demolished, site cleared, and ...
Whether his department has any records on the total number of forensic pathology (a) laboratories and (b) vehicles used by each forensic pathology laboratory in each municipality; if not, why not; if so, what (i) area in kilometer radius does each vehicle and laboratory service and (ii) is the average response and service time in each district in each case?
a) Table 1 below indicates the total number of Forensic Pathology Service(mortuaries) by province.
Table 1
|
Province
|
Number of mortuaries
|
|
Eastern Cape
|
22
|
|
Free State
|
11
|
|
KwaZulu Natal
|
33
|
|
Gauteng
|
11
|
|
Limpopo
|
12
|
|
Mpumalanga
|
21
|
|
Northern Cape
|
11
|
|
Northwest
|
7
|
|
Western Cape
|
17
|
|
Total
|
145
|
b) (i)) (ii) is indicated in tables below by Province.
EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE
|
District
|
Name of mortuary ... |
(1)Whether, with reference to the R5 billion class-action lawsuit in which the Tshiamiso Trust was ordered to pay compensation to mine workers after they contracted tuberculosis and silicosis at five mines (details furnished), and since the merger of the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) and Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases (CCOD), the CCOD has taken over the processing of the claims; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what is the current backlog in the processing of the specified claims and (b) by what date will the backlog be eradicated;
(2) whether the CCOD has had any engagement with the Tshiamiso Trust; if not, why not; if so, (a) how often have they engaged and (b) what was the (i) date and (ii) nature of each engagement?
According to the Compensation Commissioner for Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works:
1. The CCOD is responsible for the administration of the Mines and Works Compensation Fund under the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act, 78 of 1973. The Tshiamiso Trust is an independent trust set up through the class action settlement in 2018. The CCOD is not processing claims on behalf of ...
