Hon Chairperson, Cope believes that health is the foundation of the productivity and prosperity of any country. As a result, all members of society should have access to care and receive treatment when they are ill or injured.
Cope believes that the primary health care model should be strengthened. The quality of health care should be improved as a matter of urgency in a systematic programme which can be monitored and evaluated.
Preventable and communicable diseases should be prioritised for eradication and healthy lifestyles should be promoted, while health literacy among the public is increased. All clinics should operate at all appropriate hours. They should be staffed by appropriately skilled and qualified health professionals who must have access to medication. All hospitals must be clean, and have medication, beds and linen.
The problem of dirty hospitals and clinics without medicine is a direct result of the deployment of unskilled and unqualified cadres who have no commitment to serving our people. This type of cadre deployment is counter- revolutionary and reactionary. It must be brought to an end immediately. The ruling alliance's barrage of excuses about why clinics and hospitals cannot be run efficiently has passed its sell-by date. Service delivery should not only be heard - it is time that it should be seen. Health care professionals can only be retained through the use of incentives such as training and good working conditions.
During the state of the nation debate, the hon Minister said, and I quote:
We must improve the remuneration of doctors and other health workers.
The hon Minister spoke as if the ruling alliance had just discovered that the remuneration of doctors and other health workers was low after the 2009 elections. He spoke as if he was not aware of the occupation-specific dispensation agreement, which should have long been implemented.
The Minister waits for the doctors to embark on industrial action and only then puts an offer on the negotiating table. Chairperson, I am saying "industrial action", because the doctors are not on strike. They are on what is commonly known as "work to rule". The state is the one which is on strike by locking them out. As a result, the Minister must take responsibility for the deaths of our people.
To show disrespect for these hardworking doctors, the Minister makes the offer public before putting it on the negotiating table. Minister, that was a bad negotiating strategy. It is tantamount to blackmailing the doctors, because what you said to the media does not seem to be what you put to the doctors. This tactic is called "negotiating in bad faith".
By the way, if you always had the money, why did you wait until the doctors were on industrial action before you could put the offer to them? Do you regard the lives of our people as so cheap that you put them at risk while playing tricks with the doctors? How many people should die before you realise that your negotiating tactics are flawed and amateurish? [Interjections.]
For the hon Minister's free education, Ministers don't participate in collective bargaining. They employ people skilled in industrial relations to conduct collective bargaining. Ministers are regarded as mandating authorities. The hon Minister should stop playing games with the lives of our people. Don't wait for other health workers to embark upon industrial action before implementing existing agreements.
During the state of the nation debate, the Minister assured the nation that he would be releasing the national health insurance documents "within a few days' time". [Interjections.] Typical of the ruling alliance, the "few days" might become a few months, if not a few years. Mr Minister, when will your "few days" expire?
All the same, Chairperson, the hon Minister's unreleased concept document or policy is well publicised and has attracted a lot of commentary. The introduction of the national health insurance should start with clean clinics and hospitals which are properly staffed with the requisite medicine.
Your unreleased but well-publicised policy on the national health insurance states that the people will be directed to where they would acquire health services within the district. This is contrary to the ruling alliance's election manifesto, which states that "people will have a choice of which service provider to use within the district". I am sure, hon Minister, that if public health services are effective and efficient, the public will voluntarily utilise them. They don't need some Stalinist directive about where they should acquire health services. Improve services at hospitals and clinics, and people will use them.
The President, during his state of the nation address, assured the nation that he was going to "step up the fight against HIV and Aids, TB and other diseases".