Issued by: Office of the Premier Gauteng
31 May 2001
This morning, I will be tabling the budget vote for the financial year 2001-2002 in the house. The highlights of my speech are a doubling of the dedicated budget for HIV/AIDS from R34 million in the previous year to R70 million in this year, a 42.8% increase in the budget for capital projects and intensified efforts to further improve quality of services in our institutions. Our budget for this year is R6.7 billion, a 9.6% overall increase on the previous year's original budget. This budget will build on the work done to date within the medium term framework and the strategic plan of the department. We will continue with our efforts to limit the socio- economic burden of disease at individual, community and provincial level, to improve the quality of health care and to accelerate the transformation of health services.
HIV/Aids is the greatest challenge facing public health throughout the world. The antenatal survey results indicate no increase in new infections of youth under 20 years, signalling success in our prevention programmes and HIV/Aids awareness campaigns.
These campaigns continue to reach millions of our people. The World Aids Day 2000 campaign reached over five million, radio messages reached at least 10 million listeners and 10 000 Valentine's Day message cards with "Safer Sex" messages were distributed to schools and various youth organizations and outdoor advertisements reached approximately 3 million people.
Gauteng Health Department funded thirty-six home-based care services for HIV/AIDS patients. Community-based caregivers are currently being trained in home-based care. The budget allocated for these services in the past year was R3.5 million. This has increased to R9 million in this financial year. The survey also showed that coverage for Sexually Transmitted Diseases is generally good, with 96% availability of STD, and a 100% access to on-site syphilis testing in our facilities.
In this year, the AIDS budget will be used to expand the number of hospice beds from 78 to 145. In addition, R 5 million will be used to kick-start step down beds. The number of home-based care projects will increase from 36 to 40, and five of these will be fully consolidated as health and social services integrated projects.
Primary health care services have received an average budget increase of 6.7%, in line with our commitment to improving basic health care services. In addition, local government will receive a budget increase of 5% for primary health care services. I have received strong support from local government on our policies and look forward to a reciprocal resourcing of municipal health services.
We will continue to fund the Alexandra Health Centre to the tune of R15 million. As health services are important to the regeneration of Alexandra, discussions on the referral systems and optimal service provision will be entered into with the Centre Management and Board.
Our programme for strengthening regional hospitals especially in previously disadvantaged areas, will continue. There is visible improvement in cleanliness of these hospitals, management has been stabilised and systems to improve efficiency have been implemented. Regional hospitals will receive an increase of 4.8% in this year's budget. They will also benefit from initiatives in infrastructure development and the financial capacity building programmes.
With regard to academic hospitals, they will receive an overall increase is 4.8%. The four central hospitals will benefit from a R32 million conditional grant from national Treasury for strengthening their management systems. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital received an amount of R 70 million for equipment. They will also benefit from initiatives in infrastructure development and the financial capacity building programmes.
The equipment budget for all hospitals has been increased, which will strengthen the revitalisation process. Indications are that hospitals will again exceed the revenue target agreed to with Treasury. All money raised over and above the target will be returned to us.
A total of R57 million has been allocated in this financial year for initiatives to implement the Public Finance Management Act. Strengthening of financial management systems, controls and capacity building will continue. There has been encouraging progress on cost centre development at eight hospitals, bar-coding of assets, financial awareness training of all categories of staff and improvement of security in certain strategic areas of pharmaceuticals, stores and kitchens.
The total budget allocation for programme 7 of our capital expenditure (capex) is R362 792 000. This is an increase of 42,8% compared to last year. This increase will enable us to concentrate on general upgrade and large-scale maintenance projects at some of our institutions. Some of the projects envisaged for the year include extension and renovations of primary health care facilities including new psychiatric wards in general hospitals and renovations of casualty and intensive care units.
Capital Works and Equipment has been allocated a total of R 649 746 000. This represents an increase of 55.5% over the 2000-2001 financial year. A conditional grant of R50 million has been allocated for the completion of the new Pretoria Academic Hospital. The Hospital Reconstruction and Rehabilitation grant is R 102 million, both for existing projects as well as the completion of new projects. This welcome windfall will assist us in improving our facilities.
This year, the budget allows us to have reserves for emergencies such as the bursting of pipes, generators, roof leaks, lifts and repair of other essential items. It must be noted that the recent emergency at Helen Joseph was as a result of the inherited maintenance backlogs. Furthermore, outdated design and construction, made it difficult to detect the problem at an earlier stage.
I invite you, ladies and gentlemen, to read the speech I will be presenting to the House shortly. From the speech, it is clear that the Gauteng Health Department is on track in terms of delivery. However, in health there will always be room for improvement. To this end, I have appointed an Accreditation Committee, who has started to assess our institutions for compliance with a minimum set of standards. The initial standards will focus on those issues that matter to the public, such as the hotel aspects of care (e.g. cleanliness), the responsiveness of staff to patients and the issues of absenteeism among staff. The Khanyisa Awards will continue to focus on best practices, and this year the Kickstart will focus on clinical aspects of care. A dedicated amount of R3.1 million has been set aside for the work of the Accreditation Committee and for the Khanyisa Awards.
We would also like to thank the media for bringing to our attention incidents of negligence and deviation from the Patient Charter and Service Pledge by some of our staff. We will continue to take disciplinary action steps against the few who do not comply with our Pledge of Service.
I thank you!
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Popo Maja: Director of Communications 082 373 1169
Contact : Hope Huma (082 555 2302) for enquiries.