Dear Editor
Between the 2012/13 and 2021/22 financial years, the amount of public employed doctors and nurses in the Western Cape increased by 25.5% and 14.2% respectively.
The addition of these professionals is crucial to our provincial health services, particularly when considering that the Western Cape’s population increased by 624 616 people between 2016 and 2021.
However, in order for these doctors and nurses to be able to carry out their services, they require the facilities to do so which is why the provincial Department of Health and Wellness will be spending almost R1.2 billion this financial year on infrastructure.
This represents an increase of more than 8% in comparison to the previous year, which shows that the Western Cape is on track with its post-Covid recovery and is committed to providing quality healthcare to all residents.
The Department is now focussing its attention on ensuring that our hospitals and facilities are further maintained and built upon. We see this in our allocations towards our existing infrastructure needs, whereby more than R631 million will be spent in this regard. Most notably, this year’s budget will see an increase of 99.28% in upgrades and addition as well as refurbishments and rehabilitations increasing by more than half. At the same time, in order to accommodate the Western Cape’s population growth, spending on new infrastructure assets will be 110% bigger than it was in 2021.
MPP Wendy Kaizer-Philander says: “As the DA, we are well aware of the immense pressure under which the health care sector operates. On a daily basis, health care professionals work long and difficult hours to provide quality services to residents. While there is still much to be done, we welcome these consistent achievements over the years and look forward to future successes in this regard.”
Regards
Wendy Kaizer-Philander, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Health
