LEJWELEPUTSWA in the Free State and Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal are at the top of the five worst districts to live in if you want to be healthy
They are followed by Siyanda and uMgungundlovu in KwaZulu-Natal, and Namakwa in Northern Cape.
The best health district to live in is the City of Cape Town, followed by Overberg, Eden and the West Coast - all in Western Cape, with Ekurhuleni in Gauteng in fifth place.
This information was released yesterday to Parliament's health portfolio committee by Health Department director-general Precious Matsoso.
The department ranked the country's 52 health districts from best to worst as part of its preparations to introduce National Health Insurance. The NHI aims to offer a free basic package of medical services to everyone, but the government has said that for it to be successful it needed to spend the next five years improving the public healthcare system.
Service delivery and performance were only two of the indicators used to rank the health districts. The department also took into account the money each district spent every year per person not covered by medical insurance.
It also measured the rate of diarrhoea, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, antenatal care and TB cure rate in each district.
A group of consultants led by the nonprofit Heath Systems Trust will now investigate the state of equipment, financial management and service delivery and the quality of care provided at 4210 public health facilities.
Though it was the first time the NHI was being presented to members of Parliament, chairperson Bevan Goqwana told MPs not to ask Matsoso any questions.
Furious opposition MPs accused him of trying to silence debate on the NHI.
DA MP Mike Waters said the government had not come clean about whether medical aids would only be allowed to provide top-up services not offered by NHI accredited facilities.
He also asked how the department could have come up with a R124billion price tag for NHI next year if it could not even say what services the NHI would provide.
Worst, best districts named in NHI plan
LEJWELEPUTSWA in the Free State and Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal are at the top of the five worst districts to live in if you want to be healthy
They are followed by Siyanda and uMgungundlovu in KwaZulu-Natal, and Namakwa in Northern Cape.
The best health district to live in is the City of Cape Town, followed by Overberg, Eden and the West Coast - all in Western Cape, with Ekurhuleni in Gauteng in fifth place.
This information was released yesterday to Parliament's health portfolio committee by Health Department director-general Precious Matsoso.
The department ranked the country's 52 health districts from best to worst as part of its preparations to introduce National Health Insurance. The NHI aims to offer a free basic package of medical services to everyone, but the government has said that for it to be successful it needed to spend the next five years improving the public healthcare system.
Service delivery and performance were only two of the indicators used to rank the health districts. The department also took into account the money each district spent every year per person not covered by medical insurance.
It also measured the rate of diarrhoea, severe malnutrition, pneumonia, antenatal care and TB cure rate in each district.
A group of consultants led by the nonprofit Heath Systems Trust will now investigate the state of equipment, financial management and service delivery and the quality of care provided at 4210 public health facilities.
Though it was the first time the NHI was being presented to members of Parliament, chairperson Bevan Goqwana told MPs not to ask Matsoso any questions.
Furious opposition MPs accused him of trying to silence debate on the NHI.
DA MP Mike Waters said the government had not come clean about whether medical aids would only be allowed to provide top-up services not offered by NHI accredited facilities.
He also asked how the department could have come up with a R124billion price tag for NHI next year if it could not even say what services the NHI would provide.
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