Dear Editor
In the House Sitting today, all parties in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament unanimously agreed to the establishment of an Ad-hoc Committee on Tuberculosis (TB). This decision follows several engagements with various stakeholders since February last year.
As with other provinces, TB is an endemic disease in the Western Cape. In the first half of this year, almost 23 000 people were affected and has subsequently taken the lives of around 9% of those diagnosed in this period.
Furthermore, we now know of the immense impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the Western Cape’s ability to diagnose patients. Between the first and fourth wave of the pandemic, the rate of diagnosing new cases decreased by 76-83% per day in comparison to those in previous years.
While these rates are now recovering, we need to continue tackling this disease to protect our residents. Fortunately, we have a provincial government that has already pioneered in instituting various initiatives, such as the multi-sectoral Provincial TB Emergency Response Plan and the Provincial TB dashboard.
Additionally, this year alone, the Department will be spending R388 million on Tuberculosis hospitals, which is more than a 5% increase from the previous year. Over the medium term, more than R1 billion will be spent on these hospitals. Coupled to this, in the District Health Programmes Grant, the TB component has been allocated R68 million this year and almost R208 million over the next three years.
However, now is the time for the Provincial Legislature to contribute to these efforts in our oversight capacity.
By forming this ad-hoc committee, it will empower the WCPP to do the following:
- Advocate for budgets to be ringfenced and reviewed to support necessary TB interventions;
- Result in legislation being evaluated and drafted to promote TB services;
- Allow for greater accountability over the public institutions that are responsible for the implementation of TB programmes; and
- Bring about more advocacy in communities with greater consulting with civil society and NGOs.
MPP Wendy Kaizer-Philander says: “This won’t be oversight for the sake of oversight – it will be an opportunity for the WCPP to positively contribute to curbing this disease which affects so many lives in the Western Cape. We look forward to the founding meeting being organised in due course so that us parliamentarians can begin our work in this regard.”
Regards
Wendy Kaizer-Philander, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Health
