Health | PMG

2012-10-31

THIS FILE CAN CONTAIN UP TO 25 REPLIES.

SEARCH ON THE TOPIC/KEYWORD YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BY SELECTING CTRL + F ON YOUR KEYBOARD

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2600

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 31)

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Health:

Whether any officials of his department met with officials of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to discuss matters relating to health services in the rural areas; if not, why not; if so, (a) on how many occasions and (b) what are the further relevant details?

NW3134E

REPLY:

Yes.

(a) On two occasions.

Officials from the National Department of Health met with officials of the Department of rural development to obtain data and information on the CRDP sites. This data and information had been included in the geo-spatial analysis of health services for the purposes of health planning. Officials from the National Department of Health participated in a workshop arranged by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to discuss the Integrated Service Delivery Plans for Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) sites.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2599

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Mrs H S Msweli (IFP) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) (a) What contributing factors led to the improvement in the tuberculosis (TB) cure rate and (b) how does he intend to build upon this success;

(2) what (a) are the details of the new drug-resistant TB hospitals and (b) is the anticipated completion date of each specified hospital?

NW3210E

REPLY:

(1) (a) The key to improved TB control and management is early detection (case finding) of TB infection, followed by enrolment into treatment for the full duration of treatment (case holding). Rather than wait for patients to become sick and only diagnose them when they present in hospitals and clinics (which is usually late), the Department of Health rolled out intensified community and household-based case finding. Teams, comprising both professional and non-professional health workers communicate and visit households to screen for TB and test for HIV. Underpinning this are social mobilisation activities mainly in the form of door-to-door and HCT style campaigns. The introduction of rapid TB diagnostics, mainly in the form of the Genexpert (which diagnosis TB within 2 hours) has also improved turn-around times that make it possible for patients to be enrolled into treatment.

(b) Intensified case finding has relied primarily on skeleton teams that comprised non-professional health workers (mainly Community Health Workers) employed on ad hoc and erratic contracts. The re-engineering of Primary Health Care is making available full-time ward-based teams who will, on a regular and long term basis, provide health services to people at community and household levels. These teams are being equipped to deal with TB, on a much more sustainable basis.

(2) (a) The Global Fund provided R90 million that supported the building of new and refurbishment of existing health facilities to provide care for drug-resistant TB. In some instances, the funds were used to leverage additional funds from provincial health departments to construct nine (9) units (collectively), provincial departments contributed R163 million).

(b) All nine units have been completed and are fully functional, and collectively have added 411 additional beds for the management of drug-resistant TB.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2583

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Mr M Waters (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether he has been presented with the research referred to in an article in The Star on 10 September 2012 (details furnished); if not, (a) why not and (b) when does he anticipate to receive it; if so, (i) who conducted the research, (ii) what methodology was used and (iii) what were the findings of the research;

(2) whether his department contributed to the research financially or in any other way; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) whether he is investigating the feasibility of allowing state patients to choose a private pharmacy to dispense their medicine when they have repeat prescriptions; if not, why not; if so, (a) when will he make an announcement in this regard and (b) what are the further relevant details?

NW3191E

REPLY:

(1) No.

(a) The University of Cape Town Health Economics Unit is planning to publish the finding in a Scientific Journal;

(b) The report will be made available after publication by the Scientific Journal;

(i) The University of Cape Town Health Economics Unit conducted the research;

(ii) and (iii) This information will be included in the published journal article.

(2) The National Department of Health did not contribute to the research financially.

(3) Yes. The matter is under investigation and the decision will depend on the geographical proximity, cost, logistics to supply and accountability.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2532

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Health:

What steps has he taken to enable his department to (a) reduce the high health budget and (b) improve the poor performance of the health system that the country has in comparison to other developing countries?

NW3133E

REPLY:

(a) South Africa spends 8,5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Health, of which only 3,5% is spent in the Public Health Sector, which serves 84% of the total population of 50,5 million and 5% is spent in the Private Sector, which serves only 16% of the population. The first priority that must be addressed is this inequity. We have therefore designed and laid the foundation for the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI).

With regard to enhancing efficiencies in the public health sector, a list of "non-negotiable" priority services that all health facilities must provide and fund has been agreed to by the National Health Council (NHC). In August 2009, the NHC declared a moratorium on the purchasing of expensive and un-interoperable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions. This has saved the health sector and the fiscus large amounts of money.

(b) Empirical evidence generated by reputable scientific organisations such as the Medical Research Council (MRC), UNICEF and WHO, reflects that South Africa's health outcomes are improving. South Africa is successfully extricating itself from the history of poor health outcomes. The few key challenges remaining are being addressed through the implementation of the Negotiated Service Delivery Agreement (NSDA) of the Health Sector for 2010-2014.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2527

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Mrs H S Msweli (IFP) to ask the Minister of Health:

When will the cancer registry be operative?

NW3128E

REPLY:

The National Cancer Registry, as established by the promulgation of the Regulations by the Minister of Health, dated 26 April 2011, is operative.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2526

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Mrs H S Msweli (IFP) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether there is a shortage of insulin supplies at any hospital or clinic; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) how many months' supply is provided to patients who require insulin?

NW3127E

REPLY:

(1) Heads of Pharmaceutical Services as well as the Depot Managers in all the provinces were consulted. At this point in time insulin supplies at hospitals and clinics are stable with no shortages being reported.

(2) It is standard practice to provide such patients with one month's supply of medicines.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2522

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 30)

Ms L L van der Merwe (IFP) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether, with reference to the first recorded case of a baby born to an HIV-negative mother contracting HIV from the breast milk of a surrogate feeder or wet nurse, he has found that his department's aggressive campaign to ensure that every child is breastfed by withdrawing provisions of formula from clinics and hospitals is forcing women to turn to surrogate feeders; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether his department has any recorded figures of malnutrition in babies over the past six months to determine whether the decision to withdraw the provision of formula will cause an increase in malnutrition; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) what measures has his department put in place to prevent the transmission of HIV through surrogate breastfeeding?

NW3123E

REPLY:

(1) It is not our policy to encourage the practice of surrogate feeding or wet nurse.

(2) The Department took a policy decision that the provision of free infant formula will be withdrawn from health care facilities. Infant formula will be available on prescription by health care professionals for mothers, infants and children with approved medical conditions. According to the District Health Information System (DHIS) report of 2012, reported cases of malnutrition have not increased since the implementation of this policy directive. Reported new cases of children with malnutrition under the age of 5 since January 2012 to date were 34 000, compared to 38 089 cases reported within the same period in 2011.

(3) The Department will continue to discourage wet-nursing or surrogate breastfeeding through educating communities about the possible risks of HIV transmission.

Another campaign we are running is the establishment of breastmilk banks within out health facilities. One of the most successful breastmilk banks in the country is in Kimberley Hospital in the Northern Cape. We are encouraging other hospitals to do same.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2481

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 07 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 29)

Mr K S Mubu (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether (a) his Ministry, (b) his department and (c) any entity reporting to him plan to host end-of-year parties; if not, in each case, what is the position in this regard; if so, in each case, (i) for how many persons and (ii) at what cost;

(2) whether the cost of the specified end-of-year parties has been budgeted for in the current financial year; if not, from where will the funding be sourced; if so, (a) what amount has been budgeted and (b) from which part of the budget will it be incurred?

NW3087E

REPLY:

(1) (a) and (b) The National Department of Health has no plans to host the end-of-year party in the current financial year 2012/13.

(i) Hosting 94 officials;

(ii) At the cost of R84 800.00.

I am informed by The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) that they are not planning to host the party in the current financial year.

(2) (a) and (b) See response in (1) above.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2465

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 07 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 29)

Mrs D Robinson (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) (a) What steps have been taken to increase the number of (i) trained registered nurses, (ii) specialised nurses, (iii) doctors and (iv) doctors in the various specialist fields and (b) what time frame has been set for the increased delivery of these professionals in each case;

(2) whether foreign medical staff will be recruited to fill the shortage; if not, why not; if so, (a) from where and (b) what are the further relevant details;

(3) whether any restrictions exist on the entry of (a) trained and (b) qualified medical staff from other countries; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what (i) restrictions, (ii) steps have been taken to deal with the restrictions and (iii) are the further relevant details;

(4) (a) how and (b) when will the (i) managerial skills and (ii) available management information in public hospitals be improved?

NW3067E

REPLY:

(1) In general with regard to the output of doctors and nurses we have taken the following steps to ensure the appropriate financing and organisational processes for expansion of output of doctors:

· Set up a Joint Committee on the Training of Health Professionals jointly chaired by the Director-General: Health and Director-General: Higher Education and Training. Education and training of health professionals is the responsibility of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The National Department of Health (NDOH) and the Joint Directors-General Task team work with DHET to define the need for the country and plan for the increased output cogniscent of budget constraints from the National Treasury. Five meetings of this Joint Committee including departmental technical officials have taken place in 2012 and technical work is underway on planning the health workforce, especially doctors. The training and development of health professionals requires careful planning to ensure the appropriate professionals are trained in the appropriate skills and that the finance is available to train and employ the professionals.

· Strategic planning meetings with all health science faculties and with the faculties with medical schools are due to be held in October and November 2012, jointly hosted by NDOH and DHET.

· To address National Treasury budget constraints we have initiated a fund-raising venture to secure additional funding for the training of health professionals, and especially increase in output of doctors for rural areas. We will make a public announcement on this matter shortly in 2012.

· To address the acute shortage of doctors we have undertaken sending 1000 students for training to Cubafor in October 2012. This is a transition measure for one year to boost numbers which will come on stream in 8 years. This measure does not replace the increase in output from local faculties of health sciences and the strengthening of university and health service infrastructure for service delivery and training.

Specifically with regard to planning of, and increasing the output of nurses and doctors as asked in this parliamentary question, we have undertaken the following:

(a) (i) We have undertaken the following steps to increase output of registered nurses:

· Developed Nursing Strategy due for release in November 2012 which details needs for nurses and the processes ahead to refine the calculations of and improve output of registered nurses;

· Our Nursing Strategy identified a future shortage of registered nurses;

· We have developed a primary health care re-engineering model on nursing requirements for Primary Healthcare re-engineering. The final financial and training implications are being assessed in October – November 2012. The report will be available from end October 2012.

· The NDoH is in the process of implementing a R400 million grant over three years to revitalise the infrastructure of nursing colleges;

· The NDoH is undertaking a staffing norms planning exercise in collaboration with the World Health Organisation to develop policy on and determine general staffing and in particular nursing staffing norms and the precise need for registered nurses.

(ii) A priority focus is underway to increase output of specialised nurses. The severe shortage of specialist nurses was highlighted in the NDOH Human Resource for Health (HRH) Strategy published in October 2012.

· Specifically, there is an initiative funded by Elma Philanthropies to increase the output of specialist nurses at universities. This project will be launched at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 12 October 2012.

(iii) Since February 2011 we have been actively involved in increasing the intake of MBCHB students who then qualify as doctors.

· We held a number of strategic meetings with the Deans of Faculties of Health Sciences during 2011 and 2012 on this matter. The constraint has been immediate access to funding for – recurrent expenditure for teaching (normally funded through the DHET budget), and capital funding for university infrastructure and health service platform infrastructure for teaching and training medical students. Important steps have been made with regard to significant funding. The University of Pretoria has secured funding with the co-operation of the Director-General: Health for R310 million to develop the buildings and residences to increase intake of medical students by 160 for the University of Pretoriafrom 2013.

Further:

· In 2012 the NDOH agreed to fund all faculties who could increase intake of medical students for 2012. Table 1 over page shows the increase for 2012 and going forward to 2019. These were initial projections going forward. The DHET target is in fact higher and jointly DHET and NDOH are meeting in November 2012 to establish what the target for increase in medical students should be and what the country can afford. The increase in Table 1 is a 1,2% increase resulting in an intake of 400 more graduates a year. DHET projections are actually a 5% increase. These figures are being refined in planning exercises with both Departments.

· A budget bid for the 2013/14 – 2015/15 MTEF was made through DHET on the initiative of and with the collaboration of NDOH, to finance in the increased intake of medical students as from 2013 through DHET through the Clinical Training Grant ('A transition fund for expansion of the MBCHB'). A budget bid through DHET was also put in to formalise the subsidy funding for the increased medical student intake as from 2015 (it takes two years for subsidy funding to come on stream as it is based in retrospective audited figures, hence the need for a 'transition fund' to fund 2013 increased intake in medical students).

(iv) With regard to the increased in numbers of specialist doctors:

· In 2102 the NDOH and DHET raised R100, R200 and R300 million rand for the MTEF 2011/12 – 2013/14 budget cycle from National Treasury for the increased appointment of registrars for specialist medical training. These funds were allocated to provincial departments of health. Funds did not immediately reach purpose for which they were allocated. We are in the process of restructuring the Health Professions Training and Development Grant (NDOH Conditional Grant) to fund registrar salaries and the academic clinician costs for training registrars (specialist doctors), as well as other targeted training needs.

· Further modelling and consultation is underway on the planned need for expansion in output of specialists for National Health Insurance.

(b) The time-frame for the training of health professionals in South Africa is dictated by the length of their degree (3 – 6 years depending on the profession). The percentage by which intake is increased will increase volume but cannot shorten the training time. Exact numbers anticipated for the next 20 – 30 years are still being refined and modelled in line with budget projections.

Table 1 shows that with a 1,2 % increase in intake there will be an increase in 400 graduates a year. It is anticipated that we will plan for a 2,5 % increase in medical student intake and this will mean and increase in 800 graduates a year.

(2) Foreign medical staff are being recruited to fill the gap in the short term. These staff are recruited from all over the world and applications received from many countries. African Health Placements actively recruits from a number of countries and places them in rural areas. Provincial departments of health recruit from Cuba in a government-to-government agreement.

The HRH Strategy also emphasises the need to recruit academic clinicians internationally in the short/medium term in order to train the planned increase in intake of medical students and specialist doctors. This requires careful planning to ensure finance through the relevant grants – the HPTDG (NDOH) and the CTG (DHET).

(3) Restriction on entry to South Africa for doctors.

(a) There are restriction on the entry of trained and (b) qualified medical staff from other countries. This is essential to ensure medical professional standards in South Africa.

(i) The restrictions are: the applicant has to comply first with the Immigration Act 2004, or the Refugees Act 1998 as amended;

(ii) foreign qualified medical personnel must meet the requirements of the Health Professional Council of South Africa in order to register to practice in South Africa.

(iii) We are satisfied that the current restrictions do not prevent the recruitment and employment of suitably qualified medical personnel for South Africa, and must be upheld.

(4) (a) Improving managerial skills for hospitals is a priority of the Minister of Health. The following steps have been undertaken:

· We commissioned an evaluation of competencies of all hospital managers in 2010. The results of this report informed new regulations on the appointment of hospital CEOs in 2011. This work is now being further developed to detail the competency requirements of leaders and managers in hospitals and health facilities. This work is being led by an NDOHAcademy for Leadership and Management in Health Care. The Minister will make an announcement on the Academy and its work on improving management skills in the health sector before the end of November 2012.

· The work of the Academy so far in 2012 has been directed to detailing the competency and qualification requirements of hospital managers. Before now people were able to manage small and large hospitals without a degree or an equivalent of a Masters in Hospital Management. The qualification framework for any professional is essential. This has not existed for hospital and facility managers. It is anticipated that education providers will begin to offer the appropriate qualifications to professionalise health care management from 2013 and 2014. The NDOH Academy will play an oversight role to ensure that managerial and leadership competency requirements specified are met by education and training providers (the universities).

· In the immediate term the NDOH is investigating 'immersion courses' for public sector hospital managers in 2013. This requires course material development, policy and systems development to ensure the management environment in which managers work is improved (for example hospital clinical and financial management information systems).

(b) Management information in public hospitals is being investigated and appropriate systems developed. Underway is a process to develop policy on the financial and general management systems and processes in hospitals. Implementation of the new policy will require a total overhaul of hospital clinical information and financial information systems. The Minister has commissioned work on the concept and implementation of Diagnostic Related Groups (a clinical and financial information tool for improved performance monitoring and financing in hospitals). This tool or something similar will be essential to the implementation of National Health Insurance, an essential part of which is contracting and payment for hospital services by health care financial administrator (s)/ payors. This change is substantial and will take the next couple of years to implement. A review of the existing and limited capacity of the information systems of Central Academic Hospitals was undertaken in 2011 by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2409

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 07 September 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 29)

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether officials in his department purchased tickets to the New Age Business Briefing; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, in terms of which provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999, were the tickets procured;

(2) whether he will make a statement on the matter?

NW3002E

REPLY:

(1) The officials of the National Department of Health have not used departmental funds to purchase tickets for the New Age Business Briefing.

(2) The National Department of Health understand the implications of the PFMA and adheres to the legislation.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2390

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 31 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 28)

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Health:

What damages has he found did the SD Bioline HIV testing kit do to the fight against HIV/Aids?

NW2983E

REPLY:

None.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2333

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 31 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 28)

Mr M Waters (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether the SA National Blood Service (SANBS) are currently reviewing its policy regarding the eligibility for blood donation requirements of homosexual men; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether the SANBS have the relevant (a) technology and (b) equipment to successfully screen donated blood for transfusion purely on the basis of (i) medical science and (ii) medical best practice; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW2913E

REPLY:

(1) No. The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) does not discriminate between blood donors based on their sexual orientation. Every donor completes a Self Evaluation Questionnaire and donors are excluded on the basis of their sexual risk behaviour and not on their sexual orientation.

(2) Yes. The SANBS uses the latest technology to screen blood for Transfusion Transmission Infections. This is called Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT). It measures DNA and RNA and drastically reduces the 'window' period. This is best practice medicine and is the 'Gold Standard' which is used by developed countries such as the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2328

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 31 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 28)

Mrs C Dudley (ACDP) to ask the Minister of Health:

What are the reasons for the difference in the statistics for termination of pregnancy operations in 2010 and 2011 with reference to his replies to question 1 on 1 March 2011, question 276 on 6 March 2012 and question 1882 on 20 August 2012?

NW2906E

REPLY:

Let me thank the Honourable Member for requesting an explanation for the difference in statistics given on the responses cited above and apologise for not providing a detailed explanation for the variances in statistics in advance. Data capturing and late notification of terminations of pregnancies has been a challenge for sometime and this has impacted on data being available timeously at national level. We are aware of this and my officials are continually working towards improving the system by now, capturing all the terminations of pregnancy in the District Health Information System (DHIS).

As Honourable Member quite rightly pointed out, there are variances in the figures given in the three parliamentary questions referenced in the question above.

Firstly, the figure of 38 321 is correct for Parliamentary Question 1 of 10 February 2011 and this was when the data capturing, cleaning and validation process using the DHIS had begun.

Secondly, the figure of 59 449 given for 2010 in the response to Parliamentary Question 1882 was manually calculated to disaggregate the maternal age groups into under eighteen (< 18) years and above eighteen (>18) years, as requested. A figure of 11 083 pregnancy terminations (the difference between 70 530 and 59 447) could not be accounted for at the time and was inadvertently omitted when answering Parliamentary Question 1882. This has now been rectified and the 11 083 pregnancy terminations have been added to the other pregnancy terminations that could not be age-categorised. The unknown age group now consists of 11 083 plus 28 207 that were previously included into the unknown age category to give a total in this category of 39 290.

We regret that these problems were not mentioned in advance when answering the previous questions.

The tables below are therefore updated with all reported terminations by province and age category for 2010 and 2011:

Provincial breakdown

2010 Maternal Age	< 18 years	3 538
	>18 years	27 702
	Unknown age	39 290
	TOTAL	70 530

2011 Maternal Age	< 18 years	1 380
	>18 years	17 966
	Unknown age	58 425
	TOTAL	77 771

The figure of 77 771 for 2011 as reflected in the 20 August 2012 Parliamentary response is currently what we have in the DHIS where terminations of pregnancy are now being captured as a key indicator and it shows an increase from the 74 525 reflected in the 06 March 2012 response. This increase occurred as a result of ongoing cleaning and validation of the data.

Reply received: September 2012

QUESTION NO. 2292

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 24 Auqust 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 27)

Mr D J Stubbe (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(a) What steps has he taken to give effect to the performance agreement that he signed with the President in 2010, (b) what outcomes have been measured and (c) what follow-up steps has he taken with regard to each specified outcome?

REPLY:

(a) The Minister's Performance Agreement with the President has been transformed into an implementation plan known as the Negotiated Service Delivery Agreement (NSDA) for Outcome 2: A Long and Healthy Life for allSouth Africans, for the period 2010-2014. It has been disseminated widely with the Health sector, and is used in the development of Annual Performance Plans of the National Department of Health.

(b) In .November 201 1, the Health Data Advisory and Coordination Committee (HDACC) measured all outputs in the NSDA 2020-2014 namely:

Output 1: Increasing Life Expectancy;

Output 2: Decreasing Maternal and Child Mortality rates;

Output 3: Combating HIV and AIDS and TB;

Output 4: Strengthening Health Systems Effectiveness.

In August 2012, the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) produced a scientific report on progress with Outputs 1 and 2. The Health Sector has developed six Progress Reports (Cabinet Memoranda) on the implementation of the NSDA 2010-2014 since it was signed.

(c) The published Annual Performance Plan of the National Department of Health 2011/12 and 2012/13, the Annual Reports of the National Department of Health 2010/11 and 2011/12 (forthcoming) as well as the progress reports on the NSDA 2010-2014, reflect in great detail what is being done to achieve each of the four outputs of the NSDA.

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2170

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 17 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 25)

Mr D J Stubbe (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

Whether (a) his department or (b) any entity reporting to him makes use of private security firms; if so, in each case, (i) which firms and (ii) what is the (aa) purpose, (bb) value and (cc) duration of each specified contract?

NW2693E

REPLY:

(a) No, the National Department of Health is utilising in-house security.

(b) Information from entities is still outstanding.

(i) Not applicable;

(ii) (aa) Not applicable

(bb) Not applicable

(cc) Not applicable

Reply received: November 2012

QUESTION NO. 2207

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 17 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 25)

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Health:

(a) How many (i) hospitals and (ii) clinics in each province have been (aa) rebuilt and (bb) completed since 1 April 2009 and (b) how much was (i) allocated to each province for the building of infrastructure and (ii) spent by each province on the said infrastructure?

NW2733E

REPLY:

(a) The table below reflects the total number of hospitals and Clinics that have been completed since April 2009 until March 2012. The actual names of the completed Clinics are attached for reference. It should also be noted that these Clinics were funded from the Provincial Infrastructure Grants and Equitable share budgets.

PROVINCES	HOSPITALS	CLINICS/ CHCs
	Number	Number
Eastern Cape	Dr. Malizo Mphehle	55
Free State	0	2
Gauteng	Chris Hani Baragwanath Emergency/ Trauma Unit; Mamelodi Hospital	0
Kwa-Zulu Natal	0	18
Limpopo	Dilokong Hospital; Nkhensani Hospital	6
Mpumalanga	0	7
North West	Moses Kotane Hospital; Vryburg Hospital	0
Western Cape	Khayelitsha Hospital	2

(b) The following tables reflect the budgets allocated to each province for the building of infrastructure since April 2009. It should be noted that the Health Infrastructure grant came was transferred from the National Treasury to National Department of Health only from 2011/12 financial year; therefore all the financial records for the previous financial years pertaining to this grant are with the National Treasury.

HOSPITAL REVITALISATION GRANT
Province	2009/10 Budget	2009/10 Actual Exp.	2010/11 Budget	2010/11 Actual Exp.	2011/12 Budget	2011/12 Actual Exp.
	R000'	R000'	R000'	R000'	R000'	R000'
Eastern Cape	282 987	204 112	439 535	168 854	633 304	556 585
Free State	282 024	180 119	378 426	244 410	445 460	405 515
Gauteng	755 190	712 849	1 027 932	816 261	931 640	793 312
Kwa-Zulu Natal	449 558	224 128	500 815	272 769	547 698	613 406
Limpopo	212 360	172 085	323 425	234 309	371 672	285 679
Mpumalanga	498 159	289 702	331 657	298 753	356 557	295 843
Northern Cape	340 197	268 223	350 218	261 929	406 892	398 000
North West	254 644	253 413	326 303	322 703	370 074	364 423
Western Cape	420 060	376 934	623 328	614 071	490 758	481 511
Total	3 495 179	2 681 565	4 301 639	3 234 059	4 554 055	4 194 274

HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT
Province	2010/11 Budget	2011/12 Actual Exp.
	R000'	R000'
Eastern Cape	376 764	328 912
Free State	131 717	75 052
Gauteng	142 694	136 957
Kwa-Zulu Natal	358 471	364 758
Limpopo	270 802	253 093
Mpumalanga	146 368	129 152
Northern Cape	89 501	104 891
North West	145 466	136 695
Western Cape	119 179	124 836
Total	1 780 962	1 654 346

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2135

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 17 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 25)

Mrs H Lamoela (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether his department has awarded a tender for the auditing of all health care establishments; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) when, (b) who was the successful bidder and (c) what is the (i) value and (ii) scope of the tender;

(2) whether the audit has been completed; if not, (a) why not and (b) when is it expected to be completed; if so, (i) what aspects were audited and (ii) which aspects of the national core standards were not audited;

(3) whether the scope of the audit has been changed; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) who took the decision to change the scope of the audit and (b) by what amount was the value of the tender adjusted?

NW2655E

REPLY:

(1) Yes, a tender was awarded.

(a) The service provider was appointed on 26 January 2012.

(b) The successful bidder was the Consortium of Health Systems Trust (HST), ARUP, Exponant, Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) and Medical Research Council (MRC). HST is the lead partner of the consortium.

(ii) Audit of approximately 4 000 public health facilities using National Agreed Tools which cover areas of the health system and quality of care.

(2)Yes, the Audit was completed.

(i) Health Systems and the Quality aspect were covered;

(ii) Some component of all seven domains and the developmental measures of the core standards were not audited.

(3) The scope of the audit was not changed.

Reply received: November 2012

QUESTION NO. 2133

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 17 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 25)

Mrs H Lamoela (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

Whether his department has issued any letters to the South Coast Recovery Centre (SCRC); if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what (i) correspondence has been sent to the SCRC and (ii) what was the content of each letter and (b) on what dates were they sent?

NW2653E

REPLY:

There is no indication that any letters were sent to the South Coast Recovery Centre.

(a) (i) Not applicable

(ii) Not applicable

(b) Not applicable

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2123

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 17 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 25)

Mrs S P Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether any plans are in place to re-do the HIV test of all patients who were tested with the SD Bioline testing kit; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether any action will be taken against provinces that continue to use the testing kit; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) whether his department has any HIV rapid anti-body test to replace the SD Bioline testing kit; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW2642E

REPLY:

(1) May the Honourable Member please clarify us on what basis should we do what she is asking us to do?

(2) All provinces which used SD Bioline kits have stopped using the kits and unused supplies have been quarantined.

(3) We requested the World Health Organisation (WHO) to advise on the use of test kits to replace the SD Bioline. The WHO has provided us with the necessary advice. We have decided to use the existing two kits on the current tender, these being Abon and First Response. To ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of test kits whilst awaiting advice from the WHO, we made Determine HIV-half test kits available to those provinces that were using SD Bioline.

Reply received: September 2012

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO.: 2118 OF AUGUST 2012

NW2637E FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Ms SP Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

Whether his department has finalized the review process for the (a) training and (b) education of nurses including (i) nuking agencies and (ii) nursing colleges; if not, why not; if so, what are the details in each case? NW2637

Response

YES, the Department has finalized the review process for Nurse Education and Training

(a) YES
(a) YES
(i) NIA Nursing Agencies are not health establishments.
(ii) YES
The Strategic Plan for Nurse Education and Training with a Program Action and a Roadmap have been finalized for implementation across all nurse education and training institutions In South Africa

Reply received: October 2012

QUESTION NO. 2041

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 10 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 23)

Mrs S P Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether his department awarded a tender of R22,5 million for SD Bioline HIV test kits in March 2012 regardless of the differences between the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and the World Health Organisation; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether he (a) banned the use of the specified testing kits and (b) recalled the kits nationally; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) whether the procurement process of the testing kits will be investigated; if not, why not; if so, what (a) is the scope of the investigation and (b) are the further relevant details;

(4) whether any action will be taken against the officials who awarded the tender; if not, why not; if so, what (a) is the scope of the investigation and (b) are the further relevant details;

(5) whether any steps will be taken to recover the tender amount of R22,5 million; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW2520E

REPLY:

(1) It should be noted that the National Department of Health did not award this tender. This was transversal tender and hence awarded by National Treasury.

(2) On the 06 July 2012, the Director-General: Health signed a directive instructing all facilities that utilizing SD Bioline to stop the use of the product until further notice. The SD Bioline kits were recalled nationally.

(3) A team has been appointed to investigate the matter.

(4) The report of the team appointed to investigate is not yet complete. Everything will depend on the contents of the report.

(5) We have instituted an investigation whose outcome we don't know yet. Hence we are not yet in a position to respond either way.

Reply received: September 2012

QUESTION NO. 2057

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 10 August 2012

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 23)

Mr D J Stubbe (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether (a) he, (b) his Deputy Minister and (c) any official from an entity reporting to him will be attending or attended, the 2012 Olympic Games; if so, what is the (i)(aa) name, (bb) rank and (cc) position/designation of each specified person accompanying (aaa) him, (bbb) his Deputy Minister and (ccc) each specified person and (ii)(aa) nature and (bb) official reason for the visit;

(2) what (a) total amount will be spent or has been spent on the trip, (b) is the (i) description and (ii) detailed breakdown of the amounts that will be spent or have been spent on (aa) accommodation, (bb) travel and (cc) subsistence costs and (c) from which budget will these funds be incurred in each case?

NW2537E

REPLY:

(1) Neither the Minister, the Deputy Minister nor any official from an entity reporting to him attended the 2012 Olympic Games;

(2) Not applicable.

Reply received: September 2012

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIQN NW 2501

E FOR REPLY BY THE MINISTER
2025 Ms S P Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Health

(1) Whether he has put measures in place to ensure efficient management of the verification system used by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMF); if not, why not; if so, what measures;

(2) Whether he has found these measures to be managed (a) efficiently and (b) optimally: if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details in each case.

REPLY

(1) Yes. Reports on verification of credentials of foreign qualified doctors are forwarded directly to the HPCSA by the ECFMG to ensure the integrity of the verification process. Arrangements between the HPCSA and ECFMG for verification of credentials of foreign qualified doctors are monitored and reviewed regularly for improvements (e.g. the turnaround time for (e.g. the turnaround time for the issuing of credentials by ECFMG has improved from six to two weeks).

(2) (a) Yes. See reply (1).
(b) Yes. See reply (1).

Reply received: September 2012

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION 2OO8 NW2483E:

MR DA KGANARE (COPE), TO ASK THE MINISTER OF HEALTH QUESTIONS:
(1) Whether his department has put any public health initiatives in place for unemployed persons to reduce (a) unemployment -induced stress and (b) negative health effects caused by a person's socio-economic status; if not, what are the relevant details?

REPLY:
(a) & (b): The National Department of Health is committed to afford work experience to Youth, specifically unemployed graduates, in order to enhance their employability. There are currently four hundred and seventy six (476) youths partaking h various Internships within the Department, most notably the Forensic Toxicology and Provincial Support Internship Programmes launched in May 2012. In addition to that there the Department has employed one hundred and ninety five (195) unemployed Matriculants as Data Capturers. The Department anticipates recruiting thirty seven (37) Interns in various categories.

2012-10-31

What's wrong with this page?