Date: 19/01/2007
Source: Free State Provincial Government
Title: Belot: Handing over of diagnostic sets and stethoscopes to bursary holders


Speech by the MEC of Health, Mr ST Belot at the handing over of diagnostic sets and stethoscopes to third year bursary holders

Programme director,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to meet with you all here today as it is an opportunity for me and the executive management of the Department of Health to meet the future health professionals who will, in the near future, join the team of men and women dedicated to saving lives, and healing and nurturing the people of this province and the country.

Ladies and Gentlemen, developing the human capacity of our province is one of our key strategic themes as well as the main pillar of our mission statement which refers to the development and empowerment of personnel. The Free State Department of Health has identified skills development and training as a major intervention and a very suitable vehicle for gaining and maintaining excellence in quality healthcare delivery. It is against this background that we provide bursaries to employees and needy students outside the department.

The Department of Health has since 2000 progressively increased its commitment to human resource development of this province and has since 2000 allocated more than 1 083 full time bursaries to deserving learners and more than 1 247 part time bursaries. In total we have invested over R73 million over this period in the education of our future healthcare workers.

Most of you has had the opportunity during the past holiday period to perform duty at one of our health facilities and thereby gained valuable experience and exposure to the healthcare environment in the Free State. As a department we support many medical students with bursaries to complete their studies. As a bursary holder you are required to sign a contract with the department to work for the same period in the service of the department as the duration of the sponsorship upon completion of your studies. It is based on this that we have made the opportunity available for students to get first hand experience of the clinical settings in our healthcare facilities. All of you were exposed to healthcare delivery in a hospital setting and have gained valuable experience, which I hope you will be able to apply in your studies.

It is my pleasure to present each of you with a small token of our support. I trust that these would come in handy.

In conclusion, I need to mention that I have requested the department to roll out this project in future so that it can benefit other bursary holders as well. I want to congratulate you on your achievements so far and trust that you will be able to successfully apply the knowledge and experiences gained during this time. You are the future of health service providers in our province and we wish you well with your studies.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Health, Free State Provincial Government
19 January 2007