National budgets

And future plans

The South African

government’s achievements and priorities include delivering more services, addressing social challenges, restoring land and transforming the

economy.

The national government departments recently delivered their budget votes for 2017/18 to Parliament. The budgets revealed the progress they have made so far, and priorities for the year ahead.

Departmental budgets are shaped by the words of the Freedom Charter: “South

Africa belongs to all who live in it.” Each department must allocate funding according to a shared vision of a better South Africa.

More clinics for National

Health Insurance

In the Department of Health budget vote, Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the roll-out of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system was making progress.

As part of the NIH, the health department is setting up a computer-based patient information system that will make a person’s health records available at any healthcare facility, anywhere in the country. • The NIH is being implemented in 10 pilot districts. Here are highlights of progress in the pilot project:

• The department has built 34 new clinics and 48 are under construction. This will provide a total of 82 new clinics.

• A further 154 clinics have been refurbished and 192 are being upgraded. This will provide a total of 346 upgraded clinics.

Since 2012 the department has spent R40-million on infrastructure in the pilot districts and a further R1.7-billion on equipment.

Outside the pilot districts, 96 clinics new clinics have been built and 132 are under construction – for a total of 228 new clinics.