Eastern Cape

A fund to sponsor medical training of eligible school-leavers in the rural Eastern Cape has been set up by the provincial health department, health MEC Dr Bevan Goqwana said on Wednesday.

On Monday, Eastern Cape MEC Dr Bevan Goqwana announced that at least R20-million of the Eastern Cape health department's R100-million top-up funding would go directly to its creditors. Most of the remaining R80-million would be earmarked for core functions, especially in those areas where shortfalls are anticipated. Goqwana, meanwhile, reiterated earlier comments that the department was beset by a plague of corruption. Corruption already uncovered ranged from the misuse of government property to tampering with the department's computer system. The department earlier announced it had recovered an amount of R97 000 from senior officials at Umtata General Hospital in fraudulent salary payments.

About 11 people have died in the Eastern Cape following an outbreak of typhoid in Mount Ayliff and Mqanduli, the provincial health department said on Tuesday. Health MEC Bevan Goqwana said the SA National Defence Force had been alerted although the disease was under control. Eastern Cape health services and the SANDF are also currently on alert following an outbreak of cholera in neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal. The disease’s symptoms are fever, headache and painless diarrhoea, which sometimes leads to death within two weeks if untreated. The disease is caused by dirt and contamination of drinking water with faeces especially during rainy seasons, but was not as serious as cholera, said Ngxata. He urged communities, especially those in rural areas where there were no taps or clean water, to boil water before use to avoid infection.

The theft of Medicines in the Eastern Cape has taken a twist, with the police Crime Intelligence now invesigating a corporation owned by the Eastern Cape Health MEC.

The government responded to reports on a crisis in the Eastern Cape Health Department, by denying that there was a crisis, and alleged that the reports were untrue.

The Rural Doctors' Association of Southern Africa will be holding its 4th Annual Congress from 22-24 September 2000 at Queen's Boys High School, Queenstown, Eastern Cape. The theme is: the rural general practitioner - an integrator in rural health care.

Conference Theme - Collaborative Research: A Challenge for Health Professionals
Abstract may be submitted for oral/poster presentations on health related, carried out in the Eastern Cape province or in the rural setting in other provinces.
For further information contact Nosipho Dabata at dabata@getafix.utr.ac.za

This Kwik-Swiz reports on the process and programme that was undertaken by a district nutrition team, including the paediatric staff in a very under-resourced rural health district to implement one component of the INP, the WHO 10 Steps for improved care of severely malnourished children.

Undernutrition underlies more than one in three childhood deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa one in four children are stunted and one in three have Vitamin A deficiency. Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) has the potential to prevent much undernutrition and to integrate the care of a child. It is central to the Governments Integrated Nutrition Programme (INP), and other childhood programmes such as the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). At a community level, GMP can also be a powerful tool for increasing community awareness of undernutrition and mobilising their action.

To inform about developments and happenings in health sector in the district. Welcome to the first district health newsletter of Mt Frere. This, and subsequent newsletters will inform you about developments and happenings in the health sector in this, your district. Although primarily a newsletter about health, where possible we will also use this medium to inform you of events or developments in other sectors that have a bearing on the health matters within the district. We would also like to encourage contributions from members of the community and in future editions we hope to have a letters to the editor feature.