South African city of Tshwane set for NHI rollout
Times Live: Tshwane is ready to implement the National Health Insurance scheme pilot phase, says Gauteng health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe.
"The [health] department has been allocated a conditional grant of R31.5-million for the 2012/13 financial year for implementation," she said yesterday.
Mekgwe said that the first phase of implementation would include several clinics in sub-districts two and three.
"These sub-districts have a combined population of 848199, 31% of the population of Tshwane district. Rollout to the rest of the district will be done in increments over a three-year period."
She said the department had set up a quality assurance unit and a provincial office of standard compliance which has an inspectorate made up of nurses, environmental officers, medical technologists and retired nurses to monitor infection control, cleanliness, staff attitudes, patient safety and waiting times.
"The quality assurance unit has conducted exercises to test the compliance of all facilities in the province against these norms and standards," Mekgwe said.
The department was busy appointing "district clinical specialist support teams" who would work with the clinics involved in the rollout.
The teams would include an obstetrician, a family physician, a paediatrician, an anaesthetist, an advanced midwife, a clinically trained nurse and a paediatric nurse.
She said the Gauteng department was clearing all debts to suppliers and service providers.
As things stood now, 2604 suppliers were each owed less than R1-million.