Budget Highlights
More trained staff will help relieve pressures:
The number of professional nurses per 100 000 people in our province increased from 85 in 2004 to the current 100. The implementation of the Occupational Specific Dispensation for nurses in 2007 continues to add to the increase in the number of nurses. This year the number of nurses training towards a Professional Nurse qualification will increase to 1 815 with 115 nurses training towards being Enrolled Nurses. We will also train 96 ambulance emergency assistants and 12 paramedics. My department will award 2 838 bursaries.
Training of additional categories of health workers such as home-based carers is done through the Expanded Public Works Programme. Home-based carers play a critical role in caring for HIV and Aids as well as TB patients at home. In 2007 we had 1 300 home-based carers, this year this will increase to 2 300 and the number of clients seen by 10 000 to 23 000.
Bringing healthcare closer to our people:
In the year ahead, we will continue to revitalise and build new healthcare infrastructure in the Western Cape. Included amongst the many projects is the commencement of the construction of the new 230 bed Khayelitsha district hospital on 1 October 2008 and the new 230 bed Mitchells Plain district hospital on 31 January 2009. We will also continue with the revitalization of George, Worcester, Vredenburg and Paarl hospitals. New CHCs are planned for Knysna (Witlokasie), Plettenberg Bay (Kwanakuthula), Malmesbury (Wesbank), Du Noon, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain over the MTEF period. New ambulance stations in Worcester, Ceres, Vredendal, De Doorns, Leeu Gamka, Bonnievale, and Heidelberg will be operational in the next few years. The renovation and upgrading of the wards at the Red Cross Childrens hospital is a priority. Smaller, but essential upgrading projects at Groote Schuur and Tygerberg will be done.
Better response times will help save lives:
The ambulance fleet at Emergency Medical Services will be increased from 205 to 240 vehicles that will cover an estimated 14,4 million kilometres this year. We will deal with an expected 400 000 emergency cases this year. Response times remain a challenge. Our target is to increase the number of urgent calls with a response time of below 15 minutes in the urban area to 60% - and in our rural areas the number of urgent calls with a response time of below 40 minutes will increase to 75%.
To achieve these targets the department will appoint Emergency Medicine specialists to improve the quality of care in emergency units. New computer aided dispatch and tracking systems will improve information on performance and allow identification of problem areas. Training will also be improved and additional paramedics, intermediate life support and medical rescue personnel as well as student emergency care practitioners appointed.
Our planned patient transport system, HealthNet, will transport an estimated 106 000 non emergency patients between health facilities.
Progress with HIV and Aids:
Our HIV and Aids programme will continue with its roll-out. Increasing the number of sites dispensing ART from 18 in March 2004 to 70 this year; Increasing the number of patients on Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) from 2 295 at the end of March 2004 to 45 756 this year; bringing down the transmission rate from mother-to-child to 4,5% from 22.3% at the end of 2003 following the implementation of the 2-drug regimen in 2004.
Improved response to Tuberculosis:
In March 2004 the TB cure rate stood at 68%. Since then we have strengthened our TB programmes and will achieve an increased cure rate of 77% this year. Included among the steps taken will be the deployment of additional resources to a further 6 sub-districts bringing the number of sub-districts resourced in this manner to 11. The TB budget will increase from R81 million to R122 million this year, while the number of TB-beds will increase by 90. Special strategies to address the challenges posed by MDR and XDR will be instituted.
Reopening of beds in Central hospitals:
As for the reopening of beds in our Central hospitals, it needs to be noted that after an additional allocation from this government, we reopened 28 beds in November 2007. This will be followed by a further 68 beds in this financial year after an increase in the NTSG. Therefore, the total number of beds in the three Central hospitals will increase from 2389 beds to 2485 beds in the 2008/09 year.
Western Cape Department of Health's Budget speech for 2008/09 presented by Pierre Uys, Minister of Health for the Western Cape.
Issued by the Communications Directorate:
Western Cape Provincial Department of Health.
Minister Pierre Uys : 0824555144
Herman v.d. Westhuizen : 0827729161
