21 MARCH 2000
Out of the womb of an unjust and inhuman society emerged a system of government based on justice, equality and human rights. The sick, the disabled, the downtrodden and the underdogs can now claim a place of pride alongside the rest of humanity. The poor, women, children and the people of Africa have been liberated from the evil policies that sought to deny them their most basic human rights and condemned them to perpetual worthlessness. We have emerged from an era where our human dignity was trampled upon; an era characterised by callous brutality, ruthless violation of human rights and state violence directed at the innocent and unarmed civilians. For hundreds of years, millions of our people had to endure systematic violation and denial of their fundamental rights, including the right to health care services. Not only was the apartheid health system the major cause of disease in our country, apartheid itself was a disease - a cancer in our midst. It followed logically, therefore, that the destruction of the Apartheid State was a fundamental prerequisite for the transformation of our health system.
The harsh reality of apartheid touched the conscience of the world and moved nations across the globe to declare, in one united voice: "Apartheid is a crime against humanity!" This universal condemnation of apartheid was consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which our liberation movement was also a signatory. In the face of the international moral outrage it precipitated and the fact that apartheid as a political system was simply unworkable and unsustainable, it was inevitable that injustice and racial oppression would be swept aside by the tidal wave of our collective march to freedom, human rights and equality. Through deliberate policies based on deprivation and injustice, our people were condemned to live and die in the most dehumanising and unhealthy conditions. The impact of the previous policies is still haunting us. The legacy of apartheid is still alive and present in our daily lives. Our democratic constitution states unequivocally that: "Health is a right".
It rejects apartheid's point of departure, which implied that health was a privilege reserved only for a tiny minority. Today, access to health care services is no longer defined in terms of race. "Health rights are human rights". This is the call that informs the health policy of the government. The Patients' Rights Charter is an expression of this sentiment and a concrete attempt to give meaning to our own commitment to basic health rights.
Our Constitution guarantees the right of access to health care services. Our department is committed to upholding and protecting the health rights of our people. To be true to this commitment, as a starting point, we have ensured they are accessible to all people, irrespective of race, gender or class. Meeting the basic needs of our people is the primary goal of the ANC-led government. It is a goal neatly captured and articulated in the Reconstruction and Development Programme document and the Freedom Charter.
Government is fully aware that the full meaning of freedom will only be realised once all our people are freed from the legacy of deprivation and disease. Since 1994, our delivery programmes had sought to lay a foundation for an equal health service for all our people. Within our severe fiscal constraints, we continue to provide affordable and accessible primary health care services to all. Indeed, the central pillar of the government's health policy is affordable and accessible primary health care. The South African Constitution says that everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health. The state is required to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within available resources, to ensure the realisation of each of these rights.
Issued by: Tanana Cornelius Monama
COMMUNICATION DIVISION
Office of the MEC
082 578 4063