Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has again called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Minister Aaron Motsoaledi as Minister of Health in order to help save the country’s failing health system.
The labour federation’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, says time for Motsoaledi to change the situation in the Health Department has long passed. He says new blood must be brought to assist the collapsing department.
“As we look at things, nine years down the line, we feel now this is a failing system and we think that, if President Ramaphosa is to make success of the new dawn, some comrades who have been entrusted with some responsibility should be replaced and we get new blood, people with new ideas. We think nine years is long enough for someone to turn around a department which government continues to tell us that it’s an essential services department.”
Meanwhile, civil society group, Section 27, has also written an open letter to Ramaphosa, calling on him to resolve the challenges that the health care system is facing.
“What we really need here is strong leadership, accountability and we need an ability to respond to the needs of the people who use the health care system. The word crisis here is often over used, but I think it is what we facing right now. It is important that we get this right because health affects everybody, it affects the economy, it affects the individuals and it’s a constitutional right to access to health care services,” says the organisation’s Head of Health Sasha Stevenson.
