Question NW849 to the Minister of Health
15 April 2021 - NW849
Ismail, Ms H to ask the Minister of Health
(a) Whether he will furnish Ms H Ismail with a comprehensive plan for the actual rollout of vaccines broken down into (i) time frames and the (ii) number of vaccines to be administered on each day and (b) what is being done to address the challenges with Emergency Medical Services in each province?
Reply:
a) The vaccination programme is aims reduce the morbidity and mortality of Covid-19. Fundamentally, it is to ensure community survival and manage economic survival. It will do through two main objectives. In the short term it is to manage severity of disease and reduce mortality by vaccinating the most vulnerable (health care workers, elderly and those with co-morbilidies); and in the medium term to build herd immunity by vaccinating everyone else.
(i) Phase 1 of the programme is targeting health care workers. This phase will be completed by end April 2021. Phase 2 of the Programme will be completed by the end of quarter 2 of the 2021/22 financial year. Phase 3 of the Programme will be completed by the end of the 2021/22 financial year.
(ii) We are estimating that on average we would vaccinate 50,000 persons per day in quarter 1; progressively increasing to on average vaccinating 135,000 persons per day in quarter 4.
b) The National Department of Health promulgated the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Regulations in December 2017. These regulations make provision for a licensing and inspectorate processes and also stipulate the minimum requirements to become an EMS provider for both the public and private sectors. The process of accreditation of EMS providers in compliance with the EMS Regulations is ongoing at provincial level. Only those EMS providers and ambulance units that meet the requirements are issued license token and allowed to operate within the respective health districts.
In addition, the National Department of Health (NDOH) together with the Office of Health Standards and Compliance (OHSC), in consultation with the National Committee for EMS (Provincial EMS Managers) developed the draft Regulations relating to Standards for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to facilitate standardization and equitable services in the provision of public and private EMS countrywide by all accredited EMS providers – now published for public comment. The proposed regulation will not only maintain a standard of service delivery but will also improve the quality of service as well as maintaining a minimum standard of service delivery. It will enhance the EMS Regulation, by detailing the standards required in the provision of a high quality EMS. It will also assist in refining the licensing and inspection process of the EMS Regulations by the respective provincial Licensing and Inspectorate Authorities.
A 5 year quality improvement plan is embedded in the assessment tool – the Ideal EMS Framework – with systems in place for district, provincial and national monitoring which includes the Office of Health Standards Compliance when these regulations are promulgated.
EMS will also form an integral part of the Quality Learning Centres (QLCs) envisaged in the Presidential National Quality Improvement Plan to create centres of excellence in each province. These QLCs are the spearhead for improving service delivery in preparation for NHI.
END.