Question NW1060 to the Minister of Health
21 April 2022 - NW1060
Chirwa, Ms NN to ask the Minister of Health
With reference to the meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Health held on 9 March 2022, wherein the Commission for Gender Equality indicated that the Eastern Cape does not have sufficient facilities for termination of pregnancy, what (a) are the reasons that his department has failed to ensure that there are sufficient facilities for this procedure in the Eastern Cape and (b) plans has he put in place to ensure that the facilities are made available to the citizens of that province?
Reply:
(1) (a) The province does not regard this as a failure to ensure availability of sufficient facilities as situational analysis was conducted and several reasons were identified for not being able to expand the Termination of Pregnancy (ToP) services in the province:
- Infra–structure challenges in some institutions, no space to establish new or additional services including TOP services;
- Clinicians (professional nurses and doctors) left the services due to various reasons (retirement, transfers, promotions and self-advancements);
- Health systems pressures such as the need for continuous frontline support service and increasing demand for the services.
(b) Eastern Cape implemented the following interventions to ensure availability of services at facilities:
- In 2021 Eastern Cape conducted training targeting clinicians (professional nurses and doctors) from facilities not providing the ToP services;
- Provincial support visit for ToP providers conducted in 2020/2021.
- Debriefing workshop are conducted (excluding disruptions during Covid-19 pandemic) and for the current financial year it is currently underway (23- 25 March 2022) which will be followed by value clarification workshop in August/September 2022, targeting managers of the facilities not providing ToP services.
National Department supports provincial efforts through the Deputy Minister’s awareness campaign where Eastern Cape will be visited in April/May 2022, sensitizing public on the availability of ToP services and package of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR) services as a whole.
END.