Issued by Department of Health
22 January 2008
The Minister and MECs for Health held the first meeting of the Policy Committee of the National Health Council (NHC) of the year in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni yesterday (January 21) to discuss various health issues, including draft priorities for 2008.
The draft priorities for the Department of will be finalized at the NHC meeting next month.
The meeting of the Policy Committee of NHC reflected on the challenges posed by the ongoing electricity load-shedding in the delivery of health services in the country.
The NHC urged all health facility managers to ensure that hospital services are not unduly affected especially in critical clinical areas where patient life-support medical equipment is installed.
The heads of provincial health departments are urged to ensure that all hospitals and health facilities are equipped with stand-by generators. These generators should be well maintained and should have the necessary capacity to generate power needed to ensure that life-supporting equipment can provide continuous support to patients.
Provinces are requested to conduct audits of all health facilities and compile status reports. The national Department of Health should be informed of any hospital in each province where stand-by generators have either not been installed, are not in good condition or do not have adequate capacity to meet the needs of patient life-support systems.
The NHC also received a report on the implementation of the Occupational Specific Dispensation for nurses.
The NHC reaffirmed its commitment to implement the OSD agreement as signed with the five health sector unions (DENOSA, NEHAWU, PSA, HOSPERSA and NUPSAW) in September last year. All nurses should have been evaluated and received their salary adjustments before the end of the financial year (March 31, 2008).
NHC noted some concerns that have been raised with regard to implementation of the OSD. In this regard, the NHC mandated the National Department of Health to meet with organized labour as a matter of urgency to ensure a common understanding of the OSD agreement and its implementation between amongst all concerned parties.
Contact: Sibani Mngadi (Spokesperson for the Department of Health) @ 0827720161