Health minister Zweli Mkhize has promised an aggressive “catch-up” drive to restore community health services and persuade people to seek health care as the country emerges from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Times reports that speaking at a webinar to mark the start of the seventh annual Rotary Family Health Day outreach programme, Mkhize said it was imperative that South Africa did not squander any gains made during the pandemic.
“We are aware that, due to the combination of lockdown regulations and the fear of contracting COVID-19 in (health) facilities, our people shied away from seeking what may have been deemed to be non-urgent or non-essential health services,” he said. HIV testing dropped by 46% while countrywide screening for TB fell 9% for adults and 14% for children as fearful people stayed away from hospitals and clinics.
Mkhize said most South Africans welcomed public health reform which would ensure that everyone had equal access to medical care and which would “eliminate the current unjust two-tiered system”.
The report says other speakers echoed the health minister’s plea for people to seek health care, especially in the light of South Africa’s ongoing HIV and TB epidemics. Dr Iain Barton of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) said the pandemic had disrupted health-care programmes to the point that developing countries were currently “where they were 25 years ago”.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-10-15-sa-will-push-ahead-with-nhi-as-country-emerges-from-pandemic-mkhize/"]Full report in The Times[/link]