Yesterday's headline:
In the last few weeks there has been great movement to rally the communities of our area into a coherent organisation that can effectively tackle the challenge of failing health services in the Eastern Cape. It started with a public meeting, held on Saturday 31st August (see blog below), to address this issue in our own village (lack of clinic and very sporadic visits from a poorly equipped mobile clinic) and hear from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), local ANC Provincial Health Committee, and the Rural Doctor's Association of SA (RuDASA) as to their roles, responsibilities, and respective visions for a clinic in our village. This was followed up with a press conference this last Wednesday releasing a special SECTION27 and TAC investigative report into the collapsing health system in the Eastern Cape, and this movement has now culminated in a full protest march to Bisho today to present these findings and a memorandum to the MEC of Health, Sicelo Gqobana stating the problems that have been identified and what we, as concerned Citizens, insist the MEC do about it, namely respond to these requests and formulate a plan to improve these services in a timeous fashion.
There has been quite an aggressive outburst and accusatory defensiveness on the MEC's part so far, so it is clear that somewhere, someone is on the back foot. However this matter is not intended to be a fight - the matter is simple: people are suffering and dying in the most appalling circumstances, and nurses are working with dismal resources and conditions, when there are adequate funds and resources that are simply not being allocated, and where there is rife corruption and mismanagement in a system that otherwise could be working really well. So, our comrades are on the March, as we speak, and we'll give a full report of that with photographs as soon as we have them. But for now, keep informed, and take a look at some of these press reports we've picked up today after the two press conferences held on Wednesday 11th Sept - one in Johannesburg, and one in East London (and Dr. Madeleine Muller of RuDASA will be doing some live reports on Wild Coast FM straight from the March!):
Eastern Cape health access made
to look like a privilege http://mg.co.za/article/2013-
Baby dies at hands of
healthcare
A tale of rural health
Collapse of health services
will continue to cost lives
South Africa: Timeline of a
troubled province http://allafrica.com/stories/
Fix Eastern Cape health system
or face action, government warned http://www.citypress.co.za/
NGOs report details of EC
health crisis
Eastern Cape health crisis:
code blue and in need of life support http://www.dailymaverick.co.
Health report brings tears to
judge's eyes http://www.timeslive.co.za/
My open letter to South Africa
Motsoaledi forms task team to
probe shocking E Cape health care http://mg.co.za/article/2013-
Report reveals Eastern Cape's
health failings http://www.bdlive.co.za/
Kudos to Dr. Madeleine Muller, Dr. Trudy Thomas, Nokuphumla Pakamile and the other valiant members of our community who are mustering up the courage and numbers to take this challenge, through all the right channels, to the doorsteps of those who have the power to do something about this.
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