Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says despite the challenges experienced by healthcare system in the country, his department is coping very well under the circumstances.
Motsoaledi briefed the media in Pretoria following reports of crises in the healthcare system in the country.
Motsoaledi admitted that the healthcare system is very distressed and going through a hard time, but insists the country’s health system is one of the best.
“But has the system collapsed, really? Well, I am not really here to challenge that. Because I do not know the yard stick which was used to arrive at the conclusion of collapse. Surely I believe that healthcare systems are measured on some form of scientific yard stick to arrive at any conclusion.
“People don’t just stand up and in anger and announce particular conclusion without having gone through some scientific process which must be acceptable to all.”
Workers at Charlotte Maxeke Academic hospital in Johannesburg trashed the wards earlier this week, while protesting.
The department has also received criticism from various sectors, calling on government to address challenges. Motsoaledi says there is still a lot of good that his department is doing to ensure there’s no total collapse.
“The demand of health care has grown so exponentially that the system finds itself extremely overloaded. In 2004, SA had 400 000 people on ARVs. Today, we’ve got 4.2 million.
“The number of people who used to go to our clinics has increased 10 fold – so this has resulted in very long waiting times in most of the facilities and off course the lowering of quality. This healthcare system is still able to provide treatment to the largest number of HIV positive people globally.”
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