Page 176 - Provincial Treasury Estimates.pdf

Department: +HDOWK
Improve medicine availability

The department continues to prioritise the medicine availability in all facilities. During the third quarter the
availability of medicines at facility level was recorded at 84.6 per cent, which exceeded the quarterly target
for medicine availability by 4.6 per cent. The PPE availability was recorded at 89.4 per cent, also exceeding

the quarterly target by 9.4 per cent. Interventions to bridge the gaps are planned to provide drugs and
other related supplies in clinics. in the long term, district pharmacists are needed in the organogram and
pharmacist assistants in all clinics.

Infrastructure plans 2023/24

The main focus in the coming year will be on buildings maintenance of existing, rather construction of new
facilities. The department will be collaborating with the private sector to ensure there is sufficient capacity

within Health Infrastructure to achieve objective. The department will allocate more than 60 per cent of
its budget to maintenance with a few exceptions including St Elizabeth Hospital Core Block. The Provincial
Government has resolved to commence construction of St Elizabeth Core Block project with our limited

funds while awaiting additional funding from National Treasury. The designs are complete and the
contractor is expected on site before the end of the financial year. The project is expected to be over a
billion rand on completion. The Contractor for the oncology project has completed the designs under the

‘’design and built’ approach and construction work is expected to commence in the first quarter of the
financial year. The department is investing over R80 million on upgrading of security at health facilities to
protect patients and staff at facilities. The department has already started negotiations with relevant

stakeholders to find ways to mitigate the impacts of load shedding. Amongst the interventions will be the
installation of roof top solar systems at various facilities across the province, use of energy saving and

planning techniques and procurement and replacement of obsolete generators starting with district
hospitals. The recent declaration of Energy crisis as a disaster will enable the department make use of per
cent Infrastructure budget for this purpose.

eHealth Project Implementation

The solution also makes provision for the stabilisation and replacement of dilapidated server infrastructure.
The e-Health systems project aims to support the strategic objectives of the department through the use
of information communication technologies to promote, support and strengthen healthcare in the province.

The Eastern Cape Department of Health is at a turning point where enterprise architecture is now in place
and aligned to the National Department of Health e-Health strategy. The e-Health systems project for the
department aims to support the outcomes of the Department through the use of information communication

technologies to promote, support and strengthen healthcare in the Province of the Eastern Cape.

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