Question NW2002 to the Minister of Health
09 June 2022 - NW2002
van der Merwe, Ms LL to ask the Minister of Health
What is the total number of (a) births of babies born to illegal and/or undocumented migrants at public health facilities in each province in the past three years and (b) illegal and/or undocumented immigrants who are making use of health facilities for other medical services other than giving birth in each province as at the latest specified date for which information is available?
Reply:
(a) Legislative Mandate: The Department of Health strives to take reasonable legislative and other measures to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to have access to health care services including reproductive health care in terms of its Constitutional obligations. Section 27 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care. Section 27 (3) further states that no one may be refused emergency medical treatment.
The statistics on the total number of babies who were born to illegal and/or undocumented migrants at public health facilities in each province in the past three years is not available as our health facilities do not keep statistics on foreign nationals.
(b) With regards to the number of illegal and/or undocumented immigrants who are making use of health facilities for other medical services other than giving birth in each province; due to community integration of migrants, the Department of Health is not able to determine the number of undocumented immigrants as this is not a policy requirement.
END.