NEHAWU condemns the irresponsible statements by the Western Cape MEC of Health Mr. Thenus Botha in the Cape Argus on 17th February 2010. He was quoted as saying that the Department of Health will be forming partnerships with businesses to provide services in the Public Health system while addressing private health care service providers.
We totally reject and will fiercely oppose the notion of outsourcing, privatisation and public private partnerships in the public service as we believe it is the state’s responsibility to deliver services to poor working class communities. Health provision is a constitutional right for all South Africans and this right continues to be undermined by the state’s delegation of this critical responsibility to the business sector and this constitute one cause of poor quality health care.
The partnerships with business will further erode this constitutional right and will result in more poor people being turned away from public health facilities as they would not be able to afford to pay for the services that businesses would offer.
The union is yet to see a business entity whose mission and vision is to deliver quality health care to our poor communities. That will not happen because the first and last goal of each business is to maximise its profits. The public health system is the state’s responsibility and the current collapse of the health sector can be partly attributed to the government’s experimentation with the privatisation of the health services.
The fight against the scourge of corruption that is threatening to collapse the public sector will be seriously compromised if the biggest corruptors the business sector is put in charge of delivery of health care services. This country’s high rate of inequality will be further exacerbated if we allow the private sector to enter the public service seeking profits and tenders instead of prioritising poverty alleviation and service delivery.
What is even more worrying is the service delivery orientation of the DA as articulated by its leader Helen Zille {in the Cape Argus, 17 February 2010} who said the state needs to “do less for more people”. We have witnessed the results of this flawed service delivery orientation in the form of humiliating and inhumane toilets that the DA provided for the community of Khayelitsha. The Western Cape premier needs to tell us, how much less she can deliver to the poor South Africans who have been treated like second class citizens for centuries. |
