Boost for Eastern Cape health
2007-08-29 11:01
Cape Town - A team of 94 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrators are spending the week in the Somerset East area of the Eastern Cape in a bid to boost health services there.
Provincial health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said on Wednesday this was the second "Ilima Project" intervention, after a team half the size of this one was sent to the Mount Fletcher area last year.
He said a number of problems had been identified in Somerset East, which was served by a hospital and several rural clinics.
The doctors and nurses, drawn from hospitals across the province, would provide medical care, including assessment for disability grants, while the pharmacists would help with dispensing and assess stocks.
The administrators, drawn from the department's offices in Bhisho, would make input on a range of human resources and finance issues.
"Even though it's one-off, it's definitely going to assist," Kupelo said. "We are definitely going to make a difference in this area."
Joining the team as an observer would be a Willowmore matriculant who had been selected for a departmental bursary to study medicine in Cuba.
- SAPA