DA calls on Acting Health Minister to provide full audit of the damage to healthcare facilities following violent unrest 

16 July 2021

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by Siviwe Gwarube MP.

The DA will write to the Acting Minister of Health, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, to request a full audit of the damage to healthcare facilities in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng following the unrest in those provinces this week.

Particularly, the Minister must provide clarity over possible damages to vaccination sites and how such damages will affect the country’s vaccine rollout.

This past week we saw several images of how looters gutted pharmacies with the South African Pharmacy Council confirming that it received reports of more than 90 pharmacies having been completely destroyed in both provinces. The Council also confirmed that Covid-19 vaccines and scheduled medicines were among the looted items.

In addition to this, healthcare workers and ambulances in both provinces have reportedly been unable to perform properly as a result of the unrest; certain clinics have been forced to close, ambulances have been grounded, vaccination programs have been halted, and some hospitals are working with skeleton staff.

Unfortunately, these setbacks come as South Africa is dealing with the third wave of Covid-19 infections.

The DA therefore calls on Minister Kubayi-Ngubane to urgently announce the contingency plans that have been put in place for both the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng health systems. In particular, we need clarity on how the Department's plans to deal with the following:

Damage to healthcare facilities;

Plans to address shortages in Covid -19 vaccines and chronic medicine and;

How the provincial Health Departments will deal with the expected increase in Covid-19 cases as a result of possible super spreader gatherings where social distancing and mask wearing were almost non-existent.

While the Health Department cannot be held responsible for the latest disruption and setback in the vaccination programme, failure to produce proper contingency plans will turn a setback into a major humanitarian crisis.

The DA intends on holding the department to account for the vaccine rollout programme. It is the only way that we can begin to open up the country and save lives.

Issued by Siviwe Gwarube, DA Shadow Minister of Health, 16 July 2021