“Political instability affecting provision of health services”

Civil sector organisation Section 27 says political instability affects the provision of health services in South Africa.

It says the reshuffling of mayors and premiers, who should lead the fight against HIV and TB in provinces and communities, negatively affects healthcare.

This emerged at a meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday about the country’s response to HIV and TB.

Section 27’s Patrick Mdletshe says some of the appointed officials have no interest in healthcare and do not prioritise it.

He says there is dysfunctionality of local Aids councils and that is where real implementation should be taking place.

“Now, civil society must play its part as a watchdog. Problem is who is civil society and what is the government actually doing and how do we correlate these two,” adds Mdletshe.