Mr Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs, hon members and guests, thank you for the opportunity to take part in this Vote. I also want to take the opportunity to congratulate all the members who are newly appointed in their positions. I want to start by saying that, from the Western Cape government, we subscribed to most of these 10 points mentioned by the Minister of Health, except, of course, the one regarding the National Health Insurance, but for the others we certainly support that and subscrib to that.
Chairperson, our new provincial government is committed to the principles of an open-opportunity society that offers equal opportunities to all the people in our province dependent on health care.
I acknowledge that there are many things in the health sector that require urgent, radical change, innovation and attention, and that will certainly be my political challenge during my term. I must also place on record our concern that the funds allocated for health services in our province or to our province are inadequate to meet the needs and indeed the expectations of the people of our province.
A couple of years ago, this was also mentioned by hon President Zuma. Health services were certainly in a much better state of affairs than what it is currently in our country and also in our province. I acknowledge the good work of many health workers and staff working under very difficult circumstances, but we should urgently address staff attitudes and all issues relating to the delivery of quality health care services. The fact that poor people are dependent on and also entitled to free health care can never justify poor treatment and service to those people.
An issue of particular concern is the underfunding from the national conditional grant for HIV and Aids, which includes the antiretroviral therapy of which we had a deficit last year of R27 million rand, and we are budgeting for a deficit this year of a shortfall of R60 million in our province. I regard it as my political challenge and objective to narrow the gap between the available budgets on the one hand and the demand and the expectation in health care on the other hand.
Let me turn to key priorities of our Department of Health in the Western Cape: Firstly, through further implementation of the Western Cape comprehensive services plan, our department will address the important issue of the quality of health care delivery.
Secondly, service of tuberculosis, TB, together with HIV and Aids poses a major threat. We have to strengthen the TB programmes aiming to improve cure and management, especially of those patients with drug-resistant TB. We have to take the campaign against Aids and HIV to a higher level. And therefore we support the national Minister's endeavour and announcement in that regard.
Thirdly, we will have to address service pressures, which are the consequence of increasing burden of diseases resulting from particular trauma and substance abuse. We will have to strengthen services in the areas of mental health, obstetrics, surgery and emergency care. Fourthly, mechanisms should be strengthened to assess the burden of disease. Many of the reasons for people needing health services are not from the health sector, but from other sectors in our society of which we've also have today - many many reasons. We need increased funding for maintenance of the backlog in our facilities, which is in the order of about R800 million in our province.
The construction of two new hospitals in our province, one in Mitchells Plain and one in Khayelitsha, are very important projects in our province. The one in Mitchells Plain is really a challenge to our province, as there was now eventually a shortfall in the funding from the National Treasury for this hospital. It remains uncertain as to why this was initially approved by National Treasury along with the Khayelitsha Hospital and then fell by the wayside. It is of utmost importance to ease the burden on our G F Jooste Hospital and to proceed with both these hospitals in our province. I made a proposal, which was approved at our Cabinet, to cancel the current tender and retender within three months with an extended contract period from 36 months to 54 months. Therefore, we will be making our own plans with additional funding from the province to also do the Mitchells Plain Hospital, which is now a shortfall from the National Treasury.
It is about the National Health Insurance, which I want to express some opinion on. It is by now common knowledge that the national government envisaged implementing this National Health Insurance. And it is also common knowledge that the DA, as the official opposition in South Africa, and many other important role-players in our sector, are opposed to this plan and has expressed this concern. The DA has also communicated its alternative to the National Health Insurance. I will not repeat this again in detail this year, but I will instate the review of many of the alternatives to the National Health Insurance that our provincial government will be investigating to implement in our province.
We will establish a much closer working relationship with the private sector and the private health care and all the institutions represented by them. We will, certainly, also explore the possibility of interacting with private health sectors, investors and service providers to provide facilities such as hospitals and clinics or to tender for comprehensive public health care services as operators. We have little doubt that the only viable solution to our enormous challenge to provide and improve public health care can only be achieved through closer relationships with the private sector and not the other way around.
We will address the current mandate and functions of hospital facilities boards with the aim to improve the service ability, the oversight and participation in the operation and functionality of our hospitals and facilities. We will investigate various methods to improve ... Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]