Measures urged to ensure poor aren’t left in the cold

SAFETY NETS need to be in place to ensure the poor are not left behind during the imminent 21-day lockdown.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would go into lockdown from tomorrow night in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

During the lockdown, people will be allowed to only go out for essentials, such as medicine and food supplies.

Mthandazo Ndlovu, Oxfam’s governance programme manager, said while it was important to curb the spread of the coronavirus, it was important to ensure the poor were not left behind.

“Indeed, containing the pandemic is of utmost importance.

“Containment is also linked to the safety nets in place that don’t leave the most vulnerable among us exposed,” said Ndlovu.

“Therefore, we must urgently strengthen the safety nets to protect the most vulnerable among our communities, particularly low-wage workers and their dependants.

“We must also continue to measure the impacts to assess whether or not our interventions are effective,” he said.

Ndlovu added that one of the ways that inequality might help spread the virus was access to healthcare.

He said it was general knowledge that the privatisation of healthcare was one of the drivers for inequality.

“Evidence shows only 10% of South Africans can afford what is being charged by private healthcare; this coupled with the poor quality of the public healthcare system, results in unequal access to health which compounds other inequalities particularly for women and young people living in rural areas and informal townships.

“It is for this reason that we must come together more than ever before, taking all necessary actions to ensure we protect ourselves, our families and communities, and extend support and solidarity to those who by virtue of their economic and social status, will feel the impact most profoundly.”

Ndlovu said this was the perfect time to test whether the private and public healthcare systems could work together.

“With more than 80% of South Africans dependent on the public health service, this is an opportunity to test the principle of pooling resources between private and public health as proposed by the National Health Insurance Scheme.

“It also requires the government to reverse its premeditated assault against a public healthcare system on its knees due to chronic under-provisioning.”