On Wednesday 29 March Minister Nomafrench Mbombo tabled her ninth budget for the Department of Health and Wellness for the province.
She explained how the department plans to spend R23,804 billion in the 2023-’24 financial year.
Despite a decrease of R289,766 million from the previous financial year’s budget, the minister said infrastructure, energy and mental health will be priorities.
“The Western Cape is going to have to do much more with even less. But this is the task we have always known. As a province we understand we have a long road ahead to improve dignity and well-being of all of our residents in our communities. As we plot the course ahead and progress in realising our goal of true universal healthcare coverage, I am certain this budget will give us the foundation to go above and beyond, even within the increasingly constrained fiscal climate. We must and will succeed.”
Load shedding and the provision of services during power outages is an ongoing challenge for the Departement. From April 2022 to February 2023 more than R100 million was spent on fuel supplies. Mbombo explains this is a significant burden on the budget. Plans are now afoot to roll up to 120 inverters out to public health-care facilities, often clinics. Fifteen of the province’s hospitals will also be fitted with solar panels to bring relief during rolling blackouts.
Mbombo also hopes to up the number of health facilities exempt from load shedding from five – Karl Bremer, Mitchell’s Plain, New Somerset, Victoria and George Hospitals – to 14. “For any modern health-care facility to work it needs a stable supply of electricity,” the minister explained during her address.
“The electronic equipment used on a daily basis cannot be switched on and off like a light switch and runs the risk of being damaged over time. Lives quite literally depend on them.”
The department will spend R2,59 billion over the next three years on maintenance and repairs, upgrades and additions, and refurbishments as well as rehabilitation of existing assets. According to the department, 285 projects are in the pipeline, which will “further capacitate our services as a department.”
For the West Coast some of the upgrades are at the Piketberg and Moorreesburg clinics as well as the Darling Ambulance Station, according to the department’s annual performance plan for 2023-’24.
The plan sets out future works, with some of the completion dates set for 2028. One of these is a replacement clinic for Diazville after the Saldanha Clinic burnt down in 2018 during protests.
Millions of the budget will also go towards transitional care capacity in both the metro and rural health services, with the aim of alleviating pressure on acute hospital platforms.
The department’s TB interventions will amount to R28,7 million, while R6,2 million will bolster the capacity of the Violence Prevention Unit and be focused on safety-priority contributions.
The breakdown of the provincial health department’s budget is. Administration: R1 043 673 000. District Health Services: R11 764 375 000. Emergency Medical Services: R1 316 456 000. Provincial Hospital Services: R4 660 955 000. Central Hospital Services: R7 685 197 000. Health Sciences and Training: R404 624 000. Health-care Support Services: R623 456 000. Health Facilities Management: R1 305 869 000.
