Day: May 16, 2024

Health experts have called for increased investment and digitisation of Primary Healthcare Centres(PHC) for quality service delivery.

Dr Chidjoke Kaduru, Public Health Physician at Corona Management Systems (CNS), made the call at a Stakeholders’ Validation Meeting on Assessing Primary Healthcare in Nigeria through a State Scoring System in Abuja.

The meeting organised in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI)., is aimed at looking at the quality of PHCs in Nigeria and to seek ways for possible improvement.

Kaduru said the ‘One Campaign’ group and other stakeholders came together to do the scorecard assessment around primary health care systems and their capacity to deliver services.

According to him, the objective of the assessment is to bring to limelight issues around PHC for the new administration that has shown keen interest in delivering an improved PHC system to navigate the system.

‘The focus then for us, is to generate intelligence that can support that process as much as possi
ble.

‘That way we can also come back a year or two from now to say well we did provide some intelligence to support the process but how well have we fared ?.’

Kaduru said that the key things that were realised at the course of the assessment was that the primary health facilities did not have the capability at the moment to receive and manage funding well enough.

‘We have to find ways of supporting them better around that and also find ways to hold them accountable for it.’

Kaduru said there was a need to improve the involvement of communities with the primary health care system for accountability

because at the moment it is lacking.

He said that at the moment , primary healthcare facilities do not show any capabilities to take on technology and use it well.

‘So we have to build from the ground up not just do on the surface things to say we are using technology.

‘ Otherwise we will not reap the benefits of the technology age you know for our health system. We also have to find ways of improving the co
mmunity health worker landscape.

‘The reality is that no matter how beautiful the infrastructure and the structures are, if the workers are not there to give people the services we will still be missing you know a lot. ‘

Kaduru said that there was a need to improve infrastructure , like potable water, sleeping quarters, electricity in the health facility, those things are bare minimum and putting in a refrigerator to store some of the drugs in the cold chain.

He called for better investment from state governments as well to improve health and a deliberate digital health plan.

Also speaking, Nigeria Country Director of One Campaign, Stanley Achonu said members of the campaign visited three facilities in each Senatorial district of the country on assessment.

Achonu said the next step is to finalise the report and share the findings with government .

He said the findings would be made public adding that objective is to set the baseline for the government and to influence policies.

Source: News Agency of
Nigeria

WINDHOEK: vThe Public Service Commission of Namibia (PSC) participated in the two-day Southern African Development Community (SADC) public service commission meeting in Cape Town, South Africa aimed at creating the region’s public commission forum and benchmarking.

The event, which took place on 14 and 15 May 2024, saw delegates from the SADC region forging cooperation amongst the region’s members to proactively respond to opportunities and challenges facing the regional PSCs and ensure professionalisation and excellent service delivery in the public service.

A media statement issued on Wednesday by the Office of the Prime Minister said once established, the SADC forum will be a vehicle through which PSC will share expertise and experiences.

‘It will be a game changer in strengthening public service delivery through the implementation of various reforms in the public service,’ it said.

Quoted in the statement, Chairperson of the South African Public Service Commission, Professor Somadoda Fikeni while open
ing the forum said it was created based on three principles of mutual respect on core creation (the power of working together as a regional block); transparency and cooperation (value of Ubuntu, people-centred and excellent service delivery-driven) and diversity.

‘Respecting our diversity, respect for each other, bound by a common goal. We come from different backgrounds with mutual respect as equals,’ he added.

The Namibian delegation was led by PSC Chairperson, Commissioner Salmaan Jacobs.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Small-scale fishermen in the Eastern Cape got a shot in the arm when Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, handed over much-needed fishing gear and equipment to help improve their fishing.

The handover comes after the 2023/24 financial year, when the department injected a R1.7 million investment to kick-start support to small-scale fishing cooperatives along the province’s coastline as part of driving agricultural development programmes.

The fishing equipment was handed over to the fishing cooperative members from Lusikisiki, Port St Johns and Xolobeni during an event held at Madakeni Village, on Wednesday.

The equipment was handed over to the fishing enterprises, including small-scale fishing permit holders, who received their fishing permits, as part of government’s deliberate effort to ensure that they have proper equipment and gear for fishing. This is part of ensuring that the communities benefit from the marine resources near them.

The equipment includes fishing rods
, wet suits, fishing nets, blades, sucking pumps, safety boots, head lamps, life jackets and masks with snorkels.

Pieters said the handing over the equipment forms part of the department’s ongoing investment in coastal communities aimed at helping coastal communities with fishing permits to improve their fishing and increase income from fishing.

Pieters said while the province has 75 fishing cooperatives with fishing rights, most of them are unable to harvest the marine resources due to inadequate infrastructure, fishing gear and equipment.

She said the support will benefit five cooperatives, with 195 fishers in the OR Tambo, Amathole, and Alfred Nzo District Municipalities.

‘As the custodians of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform programmes in the province, the department prioritises supporting previously disadvantaged communities and individuals with appropriate fishing gear and equipment to improve their livelihoods,’ Pieters said.

Pieters reiterated that the department seeks to enable subsistence
and black fishing cooperatives to derive optimum economic benefit out of their agricultural activities.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is encouraging beneficiaries to ensure that they read SASSA notification letters.

These notifications, according to the agency, could be messages to inform beneficiaries about changes that could affect their social grants.

SASSA has since stressed the importance of ensuring that the addresses of beneficiaries are accurate so that they can receive notifications in time.

‘It is the responsibility of a social grant beneficiary to notify the agency about any changes in his/her circumstances, including changes such as marital status, financial or medical situation.’

SASSA has warned that failure to cooperate during the grant review, engaging in fraudulent activity or misrepresentation that results in the approval of the grant, and failure to submit required documents could lead to the suspension of the social grant.

‘To avoid the suspension of social grant the beneficiary must report the circumstances mentioned above as early as possible.

‘In a situation where
the grant was suspended, restoration of the suspended grant application must be lodged within 30 days of suspension. This restoration happens when the grant was suspended due to failure to collect for more than three consecutive months or failure to review,’ the statement read.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Police have arrested two suspects linked to the shooting of a five-year-old boy, Ditebogo Junior Phalane, in Soshanguve block UU during a car hijacking last week.

Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni made the announcement this morning.

Ditebogo Junior was shot when his father was hijacked by a group of armed men outside their Soshanguve home in Tshwane last week.

The little boy had gone outside to welcome his father who had just arrived home when the criminals accosted him. Ditebogo was rushed to Botshilong Hospital, where he was certified dead upon arrival.

After the incident, police immediately launched a manhunt for the suspects and pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.

Mthombeni said the suspects were arrested in two locations in Soshanguve this week and that they were found in possession of unlicensed firearms.

‘In one location, we found a suspect not too far from the crime scene, and we arrested the second suspect [also] in possession of an unlicensed f
irearm,’ Mthombeni said.

He said one of the firearms has been linked to a car hijacking committed in 2023 in Akasia.

Mthombeni said the police went to a third location to look for a third suspect but could not find him. They instead found a vehicle reportedly stolen in Mabopane, and it is believed that the vehicle was used during the shooting of the five-year-old boy.

According to the police, a firearm believed to have been used in the shooting of the five-year-old has been found.

The police said one of the suspects is a South African and they believe that the other suspects are foreign nationals.

Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the Phalane family and later held a crime prevention imbizo in the community of Jukulyn in Soshanguve. He promised to get to the bottom of rampant crime in the area, especially killings.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has also visited the family.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, has urged healthcare workers not to be swayed by fearmongers pushing for emigration from South Africa due to the National Health Insurance (NHI).

‘Don’t listen to doomsayers and the scaremongers who are telling you that things are going to collapse and [you] must leave now that the President has [signed the Bill], [and you must] find the first flight [out of the country]. Stay here. Things are going to get better.

‘This is our only country. We’re going to make sure that what we have achieved in the last 30 years can only get better and not worse,’ Phaahla told medical professionals.

Phaahla was speaking at the signing of the NHI Bill into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings on Wednesday.

READ | President Ramaphosa signs NHI Bill into law

He urged all citizens to collaborate with government and be part of the solutions to achieve a fair, just, and sustainable health system that caters to the health needs of all citizens, regardless of their location or
socioeconomic status.

According to the Minister, inequities that characterise South Africa’s health system are unjustifiable and require fundamental overhauling to ensure equity and sustainability.

‘Families have faced agonising decisions, having to choose between necessities and necessary medical care.

‘This reality does not align with the vision we hold for South Africa, where every citizen should enjoy their life to the fullest potential,’ said the Minister.

Phaahla described the signing of the Bill as a historic milestone, which paves the way for government to forge ahead with universal health coverage (UHC).

Source: South African Government News Agency