Year of birth missing

President Jacob Zuma will take almost half his cabinet to Limpopo this week to monitor and evaluate the provincial government’s progress in delivering health services.

National health spokeswoman Zanele Mngadi yesterday confirmed that Zuma would visit Siloam Hospital in Thohoyandou and Lebowakgomo Hospital in Lebowakgomo outside Polokwane on Thursday.

“The president and his delegation are expected to interact with key roleplayers in the health sector, including patients, medical and traditional practitioners, and senior management, to see how the province has strengthened health system effectiveness,” Mngadi said.

Mngadi said Zuma would be accompanied by performance monitoring and evaluation minister Collins Chabane and his deputy, Dina Pule.

Other delegates include finance minister Pravin Gordhan, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi and his deputy Gwen Ramokgopa, Public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and social development minister Bathabile Dlamini.

“Among others, they are expected to look at maternal and child mortality rates, combating HIV/Aids and decreasing the burden of diseases like tuberculosis,” said Mngadi.

She said this visit was in line with national efforts to revamp the public health system through the implementation of the re-engineered Primary Health Care model.

Mngadi said six other hospitals and clinics in the province would also be evaluated. – AENS

HEALTH Minister Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday revealed a proposal to introduce three levels of healthcare in SA, with a focus on underserved areas such as rural regions and schools.

The proposal came at the Board of Healthcare Funders’ annual conference, where Dr Motsoaledi called for the regulation of healthcare fees .

He said manufacturers of antiretrovirals (ARVs) originally told the government it was not possible to reduce the cost of the life-saving HIV/AIDS medication because it was expensive. "We said: ‘ Give us the costs .’ And when the costs were given, we found that ... it was not as expensive as that," Dr Motsoaledi said. "And you remember we reduced ARV ( prices ) by 50%, didn’t we?"

Dr Motsoaledi elicited a swift response from the private healthcare industry last week after he broke down the cost of a circumcision in a private hospital.

According to a presentation by Dr Motsoaledi , hospital fees alone ranged between R4184 and R13900, excluding urologist and anaesthetist fees. These hospital fees did not include an overnight stay. In contrast, one of the urologists could do the procedure for R1500 in his rooms, and general practitioners in townships charged R600-R1200.

After a similar presentation last week, private healthcare providers said state hospitals charged less as they were subsided by taxpayers.

Whether medical schemes have to pay in full the minimum prescribed benefits or not to their clients is the subject of a court appeal.

During his presentation yesterday, Dr Mostoaledi hit out at the "deadly divide" in SA’s healthcare system . He announced a plan to introduce three streams of care, which would have an increased effect in rural areas.

The first is the provision of specialists in each of the rural district municipalities. These positions would be announced by the end of this month, and if the posts were not filled, the minister had received an undertaking from all the medical schools in the country to fill the posts from among their own staff on a year-long rotational basis.

The second part of the plan was the establishment of a school health programme. "We have 12-million learners and no one taking care of their eyesight and hearing. Drugs and teen pregnancies are running rampant, while we wait for them at the hospital. I want to see nurses in every school, and we will call on the help of retired nurses if necessary."

The third facet of the proposal was the provision of primary healthcare workers in every municipality. The success of a pilot project in KwaZulu- Natal has led to plans to roll out the system in every municipality in the country. With Sapa

Notices of events, news, research, publications.

Schedule of participation of the Health Systems Trust at the XV11 International AIDS Conference 2008. Engagement and presentations by Marion Stevens and Sibongile Mkhize.

Women leaders have said resources allocated to fighting HIV/Aids among women should reflect the fact that they constitute more than half of all people living with HIV/Aids.

The Aids pandemic is threatening to overwhelm South Africa's civil service, but government departments are not implementing measures to tackle the problem, says the Public Service Commission (PSC). Presenting its State of the Public Service report to the media in parliament on Tuesday, the PSC said Aids was eroding the public service workforce. Touching on corruption within government, PSC deputy director-general on good governance, Professor Richard Levin, said a national hotline would be put in place after the elections in April.

South Korean Jong Wook Lee was elected on Tuesday to replace Norway's Gro-Harlem Brundtland at the helm of the World Health Organisation (WHO), pledging to put Africa at the top of the UN health agency's agenda. He has also pledged to decentralise the Geneva-based WHO and turn it into a results-based operation. With 19 years experience at the organisation, most recently as head of the 'Stop TB' (tuberculosis) programme, Lee told reporters that it was a great honour and very humbling to be chosen. He secured 17 votes against 15 votes for his main rival, the Belgian head of the UN's programme against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Peter Piot, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters. Clearly Africa should be the priority, and Africa is the priority, especially for HIV/AIDS, Lee told reporters, adding that WHO was committed to achieving the eight development goals adopted by the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 aimed at eradicating hunger, poverty and disease. The 192 member states will now have to approve the choice of director-general at the May 19-28 World Health Assembly, though it has so far never rejected the executive board's nomination, Chaib said. Lee will be the WHO's sixth director general. Previous incumbents since the UN health agency was set up in 1948 have come from Canada, Brazil, Denmark and Japan. (Source: SAPA-AFP, 28 January 2003)