The Eastern Cape Department of Health recently allocated R38.5-million to Cacadu District Municipality for the provision of primary healthcare services during the 2009/10 financial year.
The Eastern Cape Department of Health recently allocated R38.5-million to Cacadu District Municipality for the provision of primary healthcare services during the 2009/10 financial year.
While this is a substantial increase compared to previous years, the municipality says provincial government needs to do more.
The Cacadu District extends over approximately 60 000 square kilometres and encompasses nine local municipalities, including Makana, Ndlambe, Baviaans, Sundays River Valley, Camdeboo, Ikwezi, Kouga, Kou-Kamma, and Blue Crane.
Last year, the district received R26.4-million from the province and before that allocations ranged between R13-million and R18-million per year. This year, Cacadu presented a health services budget of R43.1-million to the provincila government.
While the municipality welcomed the increase in allocation, Cacadu’s portfolio councillor for health, Khunjuzwa Kekana, said they were disappointed that the provincial government was “still not providing 100% funding for this essential service”.
“Council took a decision that unless this agency function gets 100% funding from the provincial Health Department,” Kekana said, “the function should revert to province. The increased allocation represents only 89.3% of the budget.”
Xoliswa Sandi, the director of Health Services for Cacadu District Municipality, said because they did not receive full funding from the province, they will have to wait and see how much money was spent during the first quarter in order to determine budget allocations for the rest of the year.
Municipal manager Ted Pillay said the ongoing under-funding from province has caused serious backlogs and a decline in the level of services provided but added that the increased allocation would nevertheless help stabilise service in the district.
“It will result in the municipality being able to maintain a full five-days-a-week service at its 26 fixed clinics, improve its service at its seven satellite clinics, and increase the frequency of visits to rural communities through its 26 mobile clinics,” Pillay said.
Perhaps most significant however, is that the municipality plans to appoint more nurses and increase their current salary packages.
Pillay said they have noticed that more patients have been visiting their clinics and as a result, they need to increase the number of nurses they employ.
“We have to improve this service,” he said. “That is the big, big, big issue.”
According to Pillay, the municipality only received last year’s R26.4-million allocation towards the end of the year. Due to the decline in the level of service, the municipality decided to set aside R4.8-million for renovations to clinics, the purchase of three mobile units and other necessary equipment.
Of the R4.8 million allocated, R2.4 million had already been spent by 30 June this year and the remainder will be spent by the end of the year. According to Sandi, the Makana, Kouga and Camdeboo health sub-districts each received a new mobile clinic. She said extractor fans have also been installed in Alicedale, Riebeeck East, Bathurst, Kenton-On-Sea, Alexandria, Addo and Paterson in order to minimise cross infection and support the existing ventilation systems within those clinics.
In addition, Sandi said two clinics in Camdeboo and Kouga and one in Alicedale have all had their dispensaries upgraded.
Recently, Makana was also one of six municipalities in the Nelson Mandela Metro and Cacadu District to receive a new ambulance. According to Nelson Mandela Metro manager, Enslin Du Plessis, Grahamstown, Port Alfred, Graaff-Reinet, Humansdorp and Uitenhage each received one ambulance and Port Elizabeth received four.
The Eastern Cape Department of Health received 28 ambulances from Fleet Africa to replace those that had exceeded 150 000 km. In addition to those given to the Nelson Mandela Metro and Cacadu District, six ambulances were given to the Ukhahlamba and Chris Hani districts, five were given to Mount Ayliff and four to East London.
“These ambulances will go a long way in making sure we respond quickly to patients that need medical help,” Du Plessis said.
