Johannesburg - The infighting plaguing Cosatu has resulted in its executive committee not being able to adequately respond to issues plaguing South Africa’s health system, the federation’s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Thursday.
These included the implementation of National Health Insurance to ensure basic healthcare for everyone, the high costs of medication, and patent laws.
Vavi, who was speaking at nursing union Denosa’s national congress outside Joburg, said the federation had established a health policy committee in June this year to respond to these issues. But the paralysis gripping the federation meant no health discussions had happened at a senior Cosatu level.
“The central executive committee (CEC), comprising the leadership of all our affiliates, has not entertained any of the issues reported to it by the committee,” he said.
Vavi’s statement hardly comes as a surprise. Cosatu has admitted that servicing its members and helping build the country have taken a backseat as a result of political infighting between its affiliates.
An example is the federation’s special CEC last week. It was meant to discuss a secretariat report, but only focused on the disunity in Cosatu and the possible expulsion of its largest affiliate, Numsa.
Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla told the first day of the congress that too often people were referred to doctors or specialists, instead of receiving care that could be provided by nurses at primary healthcare clinics.
Hospitals most of the times face huge backlogs in providing basic services due to staff shortages, insufficient training, non-existent equipment and diseases that can be easily prevented.
This is in addition to the burdens placed on the public healthcare system by HIV/Aids and tuberculosis. Phaahla said the system had to be improved because nurses were expected to play a central role in achieving millennium development goals such as reducing infant mortality and raising life expectancy to 70.
He said increasing the number of trained nurses in the country should not come at the expense of the quality of nurses produced. Also there should be a close correlation between the teaching of theory with practice, as well as continued professional development programmes for working nurses. “Our department is committed to the strategic plan for nursing practice launched last year,” Phaahla said.
“Resourcing is essential to nursing services remaining responsive (to people’s needs).”
Various delegates had questions around how nursing training was being funded, requesting that students receive both tuition fees and a stipend.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said the construction of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, which included Medunsa, was aimed at addressing shortages of mid-level health workers such as nurses, lab assistants and dental assistants.
The new university will open its doors in January.
Political Bureau