Opposition parties say the government should do more to hire unemployed medical graduates to improve healthcare services and prevent any reduction in HIV/Aids testing, pointing that the freezing of Pepfar funds nearly a year ago should be a wake-up call not to depend on “imperialists” and foreign support.
EWN reports that this comes as the National Assembly debated a special appropriation Bill this week to plug the gap in funding for HIV/Aids testing and treatment.
Under the Public Finance Management Act, an additional R754m has already been allocated to the Health Department for this purpose.
The EFF’s Khosi Mkhonto said the need for the special allocation had been “self-inflicted” and was a result of decades of poor planning and austerity measures. “We should never again place the health of our people in the hands of imperialists,” added Mkhonto.
Meanwhile, ActionSA’s Alan Beesley said the government must confront its own systemic and governance failures in the healthcare sector, and that the party “has continuously maintained that South Africa does not suffer from a lack of resources but rather from pervasive corruption, greed, and waste”.
Only the MK party objected to the Bill, saying it won’t accelerate the implementation of National Health Insurance.
The Bill will now be sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
HIV testing drops after aid cuts, but Minister denies system collapse
Where will millions from Treasury to fill US funding void go?
Treasury bails out HIV/Aids projects blindsided by Pepfar cuts