In South Africa, health services are a basic right to all citizens meaning that government hospitals and clinics are serviced for free. In this essay I will be reflecting on the picture above and my thoughts as I portray comparison between the picture and the department of health.
The city lights in the background to me represent the department of health. These lights can also represent the amount of people who are in need of health services on a daily basis . The colour of the city lights is uniform and this to me symbolizes how the department portrays itself to the public, to lure them into using their services by showing the best parts and not the realistic parts. In a way I feel that the department is not honest about the challenges it faces and therefore lacks transparency. The traffic lights represent the reality of the department and how the citizens experience health services. The traffic lights represent the reality of the department and how the citizens or the public experience health services. The green traffic light is a representation of private clinics and hospitals, and these have all the necessary resources and provide the best services for their clients or patient.
The red traffic light to me symbolizes the public hospitals and clinics, which are serviced and utilized by the majority of South Africans. Public hospitals in South Africa are found in urban areas, and good amount of South Africans still reside in rural areas and only clinics are found in these areas. These clinics may not necessarily have best equipment and may also experience a shortage of staff. A hospital may be in the closest town which may be kilometers away, meaning if rural based patients require hospital based resources, it then means they will have to travel to get such. This for me marks the departments inconvenience to its clients and patients. Overall the traffic lights represent the number of health practitioners available in hospitals and clinics in general.
The department needs to understand and bare in mind South Africa is a developing country, meaning that majority of South African citizens are poverty stricken, and therefore are unable to utilize the best services at times because these services come at a cost, even though health services are claimed to be free. The point I am trying to relay is that everyday there is an increasing number of people who require health services, but not all may receive medical attention due to shortage of medication and medical practitioners, such as nurses,physiotherapists,radiographers, and special doctors in these public hospitals. In conclusion i chose the picture above taken by me 2nd December 2018, because I felt that it was the best in terms of allowing me to point out what I wanted about the department of health, such a shortage of health practitioners and large amounts of people needing to utilize health services resulting in inconvenience by the department.
Literature Review
According to daily clinic admission registers, and patients’ medical cards, some patients travelled long distances from their catchment’s areas for provision of health service (Sandown clinic daily, admission registers 2005). One of the key elements of PHC services is that health services should be affordable and brought closer to the people. This implies that patients, who travel long distances from their catchment’s areas seeking health care services, are indirectly paying for health care services out of their pockets.
Regarding health care services delivery, the Local Government Municipal Demarcation Act 27 of 1998, stipulates that PHC services should provide quality of health care that is affordable, accessible, effective, efficient and sustainable (South Africa 1998:38). These elements of PHC emphasise that health care professionals should put patients first by ensuring that health care services are accessible to patients as customers at all times when the need arises. Patients should not be sent home without being seen by health care professionals. Health care facilities should be available when needed. The community is encouraged to participate in health care facilities meetings and raise their concerns by pointing out issues that need improvement. Health care professionals then identify the concerns raised and prioritise them.
To maintain the standard of quality in PHC, the management of the district health care sets goals and priorities with regards to health care, taking into consideration recommendations from the community. It is often difficult for the health care facilities to maintain quality of health care services and patients’ satisfaction due to overcrowding of patients and staff shortages, which have drastically increased nurses’ workloads.
References
Ramela, I.N. (2009). Patients’ Satisfaction with Health Care Services Provided in the City of Johannesburg Municipality Clinics. University of South Africa
One thought on “TRAFFIC LIGHTS: The health system’s reality – N.A Bambata”
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge your creativity with the interpretation the picture. At first sight, they were not as clearly related, however when one looks at the photo alongside your reflections they show great correlation. Illustrating the socioeconomic differences with traffic lights proves the fact that some patients easily can fall outside of the PHC-system.
Reading this text with the perspective of Norwegian healthcare in mind and limited knowledge of PHC in South Africa, I do find it quite interesting how the differences between rich and poor are vast when it comes to the quality of healthcare. This is something not as present in the Norwegian healthcare system. Although I read this text and spot the differences between our cultures, I do find it interesting that both Norway and South Africa are in need for an increased amount of healthcare professionals.
I do find your text greatly organized, as it is easy to follow both your reflections and arguments. Furthermore, I find that the literature being used greatly supports your statements. Making healthcare facilities more available, especially for people living in more rural areas is something that is also being prioritized in Norwegian rehabilitative work, so yet again an interesting similarity. Even though your reference supports your claims, having more than one reference would only be beneficial in convincing me as a reader. Grammar wise nothing to comment upon.