While almost 80% of South Africans were satisfied with standards of health service provision, the remainder appeared to be unhappy for two principle reasons — a perceived shortage of drugs and the ”attitude” of health workers.
This emerged on Sunday when the Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang opened a conference on primary health care in Benoni.
She said the findings were the result of a number of recent surveys and that the two main issues for concern had cropped up consistently.
”The latter is easier to solve than the first,” said the minister.
She said despite the introduction of Batho Pele (People First, a government service pledge), the Patients’ Charter and running many workshops, patients still complained about staff attitudes.
”We must however all commit ourselves to improving our communication and relationship with (the) communities and patients we serve in the health sector,” said Tshabalala-Msimang. ”There can be no good excuse for treating patients badly.”
The minister said families and communities also had a role to play in caring for those who were ill and that health services should support them.
She said the ministry was well on its way to meeting its various targets to provide good health care for all.
”We are trying to ensure that everyone gets access to a comprehensive package of primary health care services.
”This was developed in 1999 and our target was full implementation by 2004. We know we have not reached this target as yet, largely due to inequitable distribution of resources, but we are well on target to reach this goal.” – Sapa