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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the statement finally made by the Minister of Health in Parliament this week on H1N1.

The DA has been calling on the government to make this statement since 28 April, in order to make the government's plans to control this epidemic clear. It is unfortunate, however that it was only after 20 deaths and over 5 000 confirmed cases that the Minister was forced to make such a public statement.

Furthermore, there are also various concerns which have been raised with us, and which the Minister has not addressed:

What is the government's strategy on infection control in public health facilities? A certain way of ensuring a fast infection rate is to have people with H1N1 symptoms sitting in waiting rooms in our public hospitals and clinics for hours on end with other sick people. A solution would be to use the toll free line to provide people with an over-the-phone assessment, and if their symptoms indicate they may have H1N1, arrangements should be made for them to collect their medication away from the general waiting area and thus reduce the chances of infecting other people.

Have all our medical staff been supplied with the N95 respirator masks, as opposed to the common surgical masks, in order to limit their chances of being infected?

What steps have been taken to ensure that distribution points are set up so people who need Tamiflu actually receive it? The Portfolio Committee witnessed two weeks ago in the Eastern Capethe people could not access their ARV medication due to the lack of pharmacists and extremely long queues. We cannot allow this situation to spread to the dispensing of Tamiflu to vulnerable groups.