Gauteng has increased its budget for mental healthcare from R700m to R894.8m, Finance MEC Barbara Creecy said during her recent budget speech.
"As provincial treasury, we are committed to supporting the Health Department in implementing the recommendations of the Health Ombudsman report," she is quoted in a Polity report as saying.
The department would in this financial year be allocated R40.2bn from the R37.6bn it received in the 2016/17 financial year. "Improving the health of our citizens and restoring public confidence in our public health system is a major priority for this year."
Creecy said R9bn would go toward enhancing service delivery outcomes in district hospitals, community health clinics and community health-based centres. She told the legislature that R7.3bn would be dedicated toward the province's central hospitals, while R3.7bn would support treatment and prevention of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis.
She added that the provincial government would appropriate necessary resources for the families of the more than 100 mental health patients who died at various NGOs contracted by the health department, when alternative dispute resolutions were complete.
[link url="http://www.polity.org.za/article/mental-health-patients-get-a-boost-in-gauteng-budget-2017-03-07"]Polity report[/link]