Chairperson, the role of Parliament in the provision of health care for women and children should not be limited merely to oversight. The ID believes not only in the constitutional right of health care for all, but in adequate, effective and equal health care for all.
The divides of our apartheid past are still very evident in the provision of health care. This is clearly visible, not only in terms of access to private or public health care, but also in the quality of health care that is received. Why is it that after almost two decades of freedom there are still millions of poor South Africans who do not receive the same levels of health care as wealthy South Africans?
It is a fact that in our country one's chances of survival are greater if one is wealthy. It cannot be right that only the wealthy have proper and quality access to health care. It is a sad reality that every MP and councillor has access to good, quality health care, but the very people that we represent still suffer. It is sad that, while companies make a killing from obscene profits through pharmaceuticals in private health care, the poor still suffer.
I was shocked to learn today in the Portfolio Committee on Health that the data we have on HIV/Aids statistics is not reliable. There is the very real possibility that we do not know exactly how many people are infected with HIV/Aids in South Africa, because we are unable to detect duplication in testing. Many patients visit more than one testing centre in order to get a second opinion and, because we are unable to detect whether or not a patient has visited more than one centre, that data is not reliable.
The recent figures on testing announced by the Minister are also unreliable. This was confirmed this morning by the CEO of the National Health Laboratory Services. The figures reported on HIV/Aids in South Africa may, in fact, be much lower than we think.
The ID calls on the Ministry to address this as a matter of urgency. Without the correct statistics we will never be able to curb this disease. I thank you. [Applause.]