The DA in Gauteng says the provincial health budget should be redirected to deal entirely with the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, it says it expects more people to die from other diseases as focus shifts to COVID-19.
The DA was responding to the provincial health budget of R55.7-billion presented by Health MEC Dr. Bandile Masuku.
Masuku says they will prioritise the National Health Insurance, the safety of emergency medical services, mental health and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
However, the DA’s Jack Bloom says more ICU beds are needed to prepare for COVID-19.
“It needs to be reoriented entirely to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, and make sure that other health needs are addressed at the same time as well because I fear that there could be more deaths from other causes than COVID-19 because we are neglecting other causes like HIV and TB.”
In the video below, Gauteng adds 2100 beds at health facilities to cater for COVID-19 patients:
In the video below, Gauteng health allocates over R55-billion for improvements:
