Chairperson, as I said, primary health care is one of the policies of government, but, honestly speaking, I don't think we have done well in terms of primary health care. The consequence of that is that, if primary health care has failed, because we have not concentrated on it, most people are going to end up in hospitals, and hospital management of patients is much more expensive than actually concentrating on primary health care.
I am very clear that as the ANC government we are going to go back to the primary health care approach, where people are going to be referred by the clinics to the primary health care hospitals, and then to level 2 and level 3 hospitals. As it is now, 70% of patients that you find at any hospital in the outpatient departments are patients that could have been handled by the clinics, and they cause a burden in the hospitals. I am sure this will drastically reduce the finances that are needed in health.
We have made primary health care a viable option which will reduce costs, and as the ANC we are clear that the targets of the millennium development goals will be promoted by primary health care, as it is supposed to be done. It will definitely make sure that things are happening.
The other area, looking from above, is that human resources in the department are a problem. I talked about the shortages. Secondly, there are people in the department who are professionals, who are at the coalface of delivery, and there are those who are supporting those that are at the coalface of service delivery. I think the request here is that, firstly, we should employ more, and that secondly, we should make sure that those who are supporting those that are at the coalface of service delivery should be assisted, so that their morale goes up and that they can be interested in what they are doing. That is something that we need to look at, and the ANC will definitely be able to handle that.
Chairperson, I am not working in the Department of Health, but I have looked at the funding. Much as we support the budget we have, we feel that the budget for health is not enough. Something needs to be done. As I said, I don't work in the Department of Health, but I am just talking about something I have noticed, especially when you look at the disasters that occur time and again. We need more funding to go to the Department of Health.
Chairperson, I am sure that the President wanted us to make a diagnosis, and give a prognosis. Now when you give a prognosis, there are three categories you can talk about. The first category is those patients that you can cure totally. The second group is those conditions that you can control, and the third group is where you cannot do anything. [Interjections.] I want to say, Chairperson, that the diagnosis is that the condition of health in South Africa is curable. The ANC will definitely be able to cure it. I am not sure about those who are not good doctors, who don't know when the prognosis is good, but I can tell you that the prognosis is very good. The President of the country and the ANC prioritised health, so we will be able to make sure that the ANC cadres who are deployed in health go according to what the President has said.
The Department of Health is very important. We are brought into this world through the Department of Health and we leave this world through the Department of Health.