We've mostly opted for issues where there is a specific policy, legislative, or implementation process to keep tabs on in 2023. Accordingly, critical issues like antimicrobial resistance, COVID-19, or the diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases in the public sector were left out, not because we don't consider them to be important, but because we are not aware of any specific developments to watch out for in 2023.
Current deputy health minister, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who hails from KwaZulu-Natal did not make it onto this NEC list, which may put him in a vulnerable position. However, Dhlomo, like Phaahla, is a medical doctor with a track record, albeit not an all-glowing one, in health governance as MEC for Health in KZN and as chair of Parliament's health portfolio committee.
But tackling loadshedding and water shortages that affect health services also depends on other departments, including Cogta and Mineral Resources and Energy, among others. Though the health department can and should take steps to mitigate the impact of loadshedding, the biggest chunk of responsibility to end it ultimately sits with other departments. As in other areas, healthcare services remain deeply entangled in South Africa's wider struggle for clean and effective governance.
While experts like Professor Alex van den Heever from the Wits School of Government in his submission on the bill referred to this as emasculating provincial powers, Deputy Director-General in the health department, Dr Nicholas Crisp, disagrees and told MPs in a presentation last year that this centralisation"does not infringe on their constitutional mandate".
Although not a magic bullet, this bill is still an important step out of the quagmire of poor supply chain management processes which the auditor-general has tried for years to pull the country from. In the latest audit outcomes for provincial and national departments the AG noted that government departments that have been audited since 2019, disclosed"fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling R5.83 billion".
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Source: City_Press - 🏆 7. / 72 Read more »