Deputy Speaker, we have set millennium goals for 2015 and we are just over one year away from 2015. The under-five and infant mortality goals are 20 and 18 deaths per 1 000 births, respectively. Government, in the National Service Delivery Agreement, set a target of 50 and 36 deaths respectively for 2014. Government aimed low and is hitting the mark.
The maternal mortality goal is 38 deaths per 100 000 lives and the last full statistics show that we have increased from 310 to 333 deaths. We are set to miss all these strict and crucial goals. Irrespective of all the initiatives we have just mentioned today, the reality on the ground is that there are clinics and hospitals with a shortage of medical professionals on a daily basis. Has the Minister's delay in increasing the number of health professionals not contributed to these particular failures that I have just mentioned?