North West - North West MEC for Health and Social Development, Rebecca Kasienyane, has pledged her undivided attention and leadership to accelerate health and social service delivery in the province.
Addressing health professionals and support staff during her recent visit to all provincial hospitals to assess the conditions at the facilities, Ms Kasienyane said working together and supporting one another will accelerate health services.
"I am aware of the complexities and many challenges within this sector hence I will not fool you or myself into thinking that all these challenges will be dealt with, with relative ease, however, with all working together and supporting one another, a success story can be told," she said.
Among the hospitals visited last week included the Vryburg Hospital in Dr Ruth Segomotso Mompati District, the Christiana Hospital and the Taung Hospital.
Since the merger of the two departments (Health and Social Development) during the new administration, MEC Kasienyane has resolved to visit every corner of the province to get first hand information on the challenges faced at the health facilities.
During the visit at the Vryburg Hospital, Ms Kasienyane was impressed by the multimillion construction of the hospital, where 90 percent of construction was being completed.
"I'm confident that this hospital will reduce the load in existing health facilities," she said.
She was also impressed by the existing infrastructure and resources allocated at the Christiana and the Taung hospitals, but acknowledged that more still needs to be done in terms of staff establishment to improve contact patients and health professionals.
MEC Kasienyane, who is concerned about health professionals leaving rural areas to work in the cities, promised to improve infrastructure at rural areas to meet those in cities to attract health professionals.
She made it clear to staff that she would not be associated with mediocrity and warned that she was impatient with uncoordinated programmes and would not tolerate laziness.
"All of you who are working for this department are firstly employed to deliver on the departmental goals whether you are at a district, service point, hospital or provincial office and nothing else," she said.
