MEC Manzini addressing the crowd
By Kopano Dibakwane
Mpumalanga MEC for Health, Sasekani Manzini, has launched the Zazise(identify yourself) campaign at Middleburg hospital, in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, on Thursday 9 November.
The campaign is reportedly aimed at empowering the public on the required documentation when visiting all health care facilities and the responsibility thereof, also to address depicted observables by the department during health care service delivery.
The department further stated that, according to statistics, the population of Mpumalanga is currently sitting on over five million and a large portion of the population is found in rural areas.
It was also reported by the department that around 80% of the population in South Africa uses public health care, with the wealthiest 20% preferring to use private health care.
In her keynote address during the launch, Manzini told the community members in attendance that the Zazise campaign also aims to raise awareness on the need for patients to pay hospital services. She said that the audit outcome for the year 2002/2023 revealed the failure to achieve the revenue collection target.
” In primary health care, which are our clinics and community health centres, our services are free. We would like to encourage our people to first seek help in those facilities for free.
” All people who wish to get services from these institutions are advised to bring along their ID(Identified Document). The identity documents enable the hospital to differentiate patients in terms of their category of hospital fees,” said Manzini.
The MEC furthermore stated that neighbouring countries, like Swaziland and Mozambique, put more pressure on provincial health facilities but the department is mandated by the National Health Act to provide health services to foreign nationals.
Manzini said that the newly appointed revenue collectors have a significant impact on the financial health and success of hospitals, also urging them to refrain from pocketing the patient fees for their own benefit.
” You are requested to approach your role with empathy, accuracy, effective communication, and a commitment to continuously learning,” said Manzini.
