Africa-Press – South-Africa. Health Minister Joe Phaahla defended the government’s measures against the Covid-19 pandemic and disagreed with “armchair critics” calling for abolishing such measures.
Phaahla, delivering his first budget vote speech as health minister after replacing the disgraced Zweli Mkhize in August 2021, said vaccines remained the best defence against the virus and advocated for the National Health Insurance.
He told a virtual mini-plenary of the National Assembly on Tuesday the “measures that government took utilising the Disaster Management Act were meant to protect the people of South Africa against the harshest impact of Covid-19”.
Phaahla said it helped to flatten the curve and ensured health services could cope, adding South Africa’s health services, even though it struggled during the first three waves of infections, “never collapsed under the pressure”.
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“We thank leaders of all sectors of society for working together with government. We wish to assure all South Africans, that as government, we get no joy in inconveniencing you from time to time with restrictions.
“We say sorry where we have wronged you, but please be assured that all interventions were meant and are still meant for all of us to avoid the severe impact of Covid-19.
He said:
“We disagree with this as public health authorities; we believe that we should guide the nation in terms of severe impact of this pandemic.”
He added compared to the same time last year, South Africa had made lots of progress with its vaccination programme.
By Monday, 35.182 million vaccine doses were administered to just more than 19 700 million adults. This is 49.5% of all adults.
Phaahla did not mention this is still way below the initial target to vaccinate 70% of adults with at least one dose by 16 December 2021.
He said experts estimated more than 70% of the population had had contact with the virus and therefore had some natural immunity. However, this immunity wanes over time, and it cannot be boosted.
Phaahla said:
The health department received a budget allocation of R2 billion for vaccines for the 2022/23 financial year.
Its total budget allocation for the financial year is R64.5 billion, of which 86% or just around R55 billion would be transferred to provinces as conditional grants to support various activities such as the HIV and Aids, and TB programmes, support for human resources, including medical interns and community service doctors, and infrastructure support.
However, Phaahla is concerned that over the medium term, the health budget will be going down by 1.7% each year before even factoring in inflation, which cannot be good for health services in the country.
He said the ANC government was committed to attaining universal health coverage for all South Africans.
Phaahla urged all MPs to support the NHI Bill, which is currently before the Portfolio Committee on Health.
Several opposition MPs were concerned the funds allocated would be looted, citing the example of Mkhize and Digital Vibes.
Mkhize is still an MP and has his hopes set on an ANC leadership position come December.
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