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Response to claims by Penny Bellad-Ellis
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Health

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MEDIA RELEASE
 TO ALL MEDIA
 FOR IMMEDIATE USE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
 2 MAY 2001


RESPONSE TO CLAIMS BY PENNY BELLAD-ELLIS

The Eastern Cape Department of Health wishes to remind Penny Bellad-Ellis that most of the damage that we are trying to patch has been 
inherited from the Apartheid regime. However, we are in government and we have to give answers. It is not the present government that 
created two nations in one country. It is not the present government that did not bring health care services to the majority of the people 
of this province. It must be pointed that despite our concerted effort to try and deal with the challenges brought by the ills of the past 
a few of the previously advantaged have not mentally transformed to understand that when you try and change what has been a norm we need to 
outgrow fallacious commitment and work towards the realisation of our strategic objective of a better life for all.

It is an undeniable fact that people were dying from curable diseases before 1994 but nobody was complaining. You look at TB, infant and 
maternal mortality, the figures were high however; we didnt know the actual figures because we were given wrong statistics so as to get 
financial assistance from outside. However, when it suited them those resources were not distributed in needy areas such as homelands where 
most incidents of these diseases were prevalent.

Now those professionals who were not complaining, then are now raising these issues when these statistics are going down because all the 
people irrespective of colour are getting health care services.

The exodus of professionals at the time we are trying to ensure that health care services are equally distributed and that all of us commit 
ourselves to create conducive conditions for better health service delivery leaves much to be desired. One can only assume that the health 
professionals who are leaving because they feel the standards are dropping could be the same as those who were not interested in infant and 
maternal mortality, TB, etc. in African areas. When services are extended to those areas that were neglected, they start shouting of 
falling standards. When hospitals that were serving different population groups are being rationalised which is a challenge on its own 
services are collapsing. When new managerial ethoses are being implanted so as to improve service delivery, some managers resist and 
pronounce doomsday for health services.

One must understand that South Africa is part of the global village. We cannot simply close our doors to people who want to explore the 
world, as this was the case before. We have to compete with other countries to attract the best human resources. Whereas it is 
understandable that the motivating factor is more of incentives, the government is doing its best to address these issues. Salaries and 
service conditions are negotiated and agreed at a National Bargaining Forum where all employees are represented by different trade unions. 
That is beyond the scope of the provincial government.

We must all agree that the issue of increasing salaries has to be matched with capital expenditure. For example, for this Financial Year an 
amount of R69 million has been set aside for revamping of institutions. We can have all the incentives and pay highest salaries but if our 
institutions have roofs leaking and buildings falling apart then we have a serious problem. Our institutions were created to promote a 
world-class private service and they have to be maintained at that level. However, with the limited resources that have to be distributed 
equitably it means some of our institutions have to be revamped without reducing the standards. What we are finding is that some managers 
have continued with the expenditure pattern that existed before 1994 in complete defiance of the objective conditions and challenges of 
bringing health service to all. We have always emphasised on prioritisation of core functions yet we still find a situation where some of 
the managers either consciously or unconsciously continuing with that what has been happening before.

Health, like other line function departments in Eastern Cape, has done a lot to bring services to our communities. These interventions have 
improved the health infrastructure as well as numbers of people having access to such services.

The Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDOH) has never been better positioned as it is today, to take the decisive steps, towards 
contributing to a better quality of life for all the people of the Eastern Cape province and especially many people who sacrificed their 
lives to ensure that future generations will enjoy the fruits of liberty.

END

Issued by Mahlubandile Mageda
 Media Liaison Officer: Office of the MEC
 Contact No. 040 609 3779
 Cellphone: 082 566 3664

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