Issued by: Department of Health
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
STATEMENT BY DR. OLIVE SHISANA, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, REGARDING THE COMMUNICATIONS TENDER
The Department of Health's decision to appoint communications consultants is critical to the Government's commitment to deliver quality, affordable health care to all South Africans.
We believe that people should have all the information they need to protect themselves from disease and other health risks. Everyone has a right to know what health services and resources are available to them, where to go for help and what to expect. And everyone - not just Parliamentarians - should be able to participate in the great debates transforming our country; how to reduce the high cost of medicines, how to reach out to the poorest rural areas, how to allocate scarce healthcare resources for the greatest benefit of those most in need.
There is a pressing need to open those lines of communications, to investigate communities' health needs and to raise awareness about the department's policies and programmes. To reduce issues of such importance to the petty sneer that this is all about "improving the Minister's image" is ignorant and alarmist.
We have in the past been criticised, and rightfully so, for not communicating enough or effectively with the public, and even with other structures with whom we are constitutionally bound to maintain open communication. This has been mainly due to our lack of capacity to meet these obligations. While we are actively building the departmental capacity to do this, we have come to accept that the time required to have a team in place will be far too long for us to go on without an effective communications team - hence the decision to contract a private company.
The tender for communications consultants was open, transparent and properly conducted. The work includes research into health needs, communications advice, assistance in media liaison, training and skills transfer. Our goal is for the Department to become self-sufficient with a fully-staffed communications team as soon as possible.
Anyone who has bothered to read the Comtask report recommenda- tions on improving Government communications, or noted that many other Government departments are quite rightly seeking the same advice in the same manner - Public Enterprises, Water, Transport, Tourism, to name but a few - would recognise the importance of clear and accountable two-way communications to our newly emerging democracy.
The accusation that the Department of Health is wasting valuable money on an image-building exercise is mischievous and misleading - a blatant example of irresponsible political point scoring.
For further information please contact:
Dr. Olive Shisana Tel: (021) 461 4362 Director General Fax: (021) 461 6864 Department of Health