Speech by the Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the opening of Zalara Clinic, Eastern Cape province, Amathole District

Programme Director
Premier of the Eastern Cape
MEC for Health
Mayor of Peddie Municipality and other councillors present here
Health and other government officials present
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning

Programme Director, I would like to thank everyone who came from near and far to celebrate this important day of officially opening this clinic. Ladies and gentlemen your presence here demonstrates that you are committed to participating in improving your own health.

Programme Director, Zalara Clinic is a provincial government facility which serves more than 10 000 people of Zalara, Qamdoboya, Mthathi and Tyeni villages. The clinic was built in 2003 at a total cost of R3 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, this clinic offers comprehensive healthcare services with the help of the following staff establishment. One chief professional nurse, one professional nurse, two enrolled nurses, one general assistant and a security personnel. As a community we have to work with these health workers and support them so that they are able to respond to the needs of the community as much as possible. Community has to participate in the functioning of this facility through the clinic committee. Health workers should also work with the community and also ensure that people who come to the facility are treated with dignity and respect.

Programme Director, as government we recognise that there are still economic and social inequities that still promote inequality within our society. We believe that the unequal distribution of resources impacts on the quality of life of people. Government is taking all possible measures to ensure that the resources and services are distributed in an equitable manner to all communities, irrespective of where they live.

Through our clinic building programme and various outreach activities from the currently existing facilities, we are seeking to ensure that health services are accessible to all our communities. The opening of this clinic here today is a demonstration of our commitment to address the health needs of this community and ensuring that we attain the best possible health outcomes.

In order to make a fundamental improvement in health equity, technical and medical solutions such as disease control and medical care are without doubt necessary, however they are not enough. What we need is empowerment of individuals, families and communities to make informed choices about their health and therefore contribute in improving the health of our population.

We have to adopt healthy lifestyles by ensuring that we eat nutritious food and we exercise regularly. The world now faces a double-burden of malnutrition: over and under nutrition. It is important that communities play their part in addressing this problem by avoiding consumption of fats and highly processed foods. We should instead eat more vegetables and fresh fruit which we can grow in homes and save money. I would like you to promise me that when I visit you again, each household will be having its own garden where you harvest your own vegetables.

We also have to avoid health risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse. All of these things will assist us to prevent development of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, various types of cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. These healthy practices including good nutrition also assist in strengthening the immune system and delay progression from HIV infection to development of AIDS defining conditions. But of critical importance in the healthy lifestyle campaign is safe sexual behaviour to ensure that people do not get infections in the first place and unwanted pregnancies are avoided.

The different socio-economic status of men and women in almost every society across the globe is perhaps the single most pervasive and entrenched form of inequity. Therefore we have to continue with the struggle for gender equality and to also ensure that women and children have access to basic services including primary health care services that will be provided here.

I encourage you to bring your children regularly to the clinic particularly to ensure that they are fully immunised to protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio. Remember that early treatment of childhood illnesses is critical in ensuring that our children grow up to reach their full potential. Access to primary health care services has been improved by increased availability of facilities which are geographically closer to general populations and also by making primary health care free of charge to all at the point of delivery. So there is no excuse for not coming to the clinic to seek help.

I hope you will all ensure that this beautiful facility is kept as clean as it is today and the community will protect it from bad elements who would want to vandalise or steal from it. I trust that you as the communities will use it to your best advantage. Programme Director, it is now a great pleasure for me to officially open the Zalara clinic.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Health
5 October 2007