Health and education organisations join the Western Cape government’s concerns over the looming fiscal budget blow.
The South African Medical Association (Sama) said it noted with concern that fiscal budget cuts can have significant repercussions on health care in the Western Cape and in South Africa, as they can lead to a range of negative effects on the health-care system and the population's access to quality medical services.
“Budget cuts can lead to a shortage of health-care professionals, longer wait times, and reduced access to medical facilities. This can result in delayed diagnoses and treatments, which can negatively impact patients' health outcomes. With limited resources, health-care facilities may struggle to maintain high standards of care. This can lead to a decline in the quality of medical services, which can have severe consequences for patient safety and well-being. This can result in increased health-care costs in the long run.”
She said public hospitals often bear the brunt of budget cuts.
“Those with lower incomes or in underserved areas may face more significant barriers to accessing health care. Furthermore, this can also impact the job security of medical professionals, which can lead to low morale among health-care professionals, which can affect the overall quality of care,” Sama said.
Vanessa Le Roux, the founder of Parents for Equal Education SA (Peesa), said: “This is another blow for service delivery for the poor. How much more can we deprive the children when thousands of children in his province don't have a school. This cut is absolutely nothing new, our children in poor, disadvantaged communities have been the victims of these cuts for years already.”
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said the province is in ongoing engagements with the National Treasury.
“Our focus in these engagements is on acting in the best interests of our citizens. When faced with tough choices, we believe that there can be no greater priority than ensuring the education and health care of our citizens, and protecting the most vulnerable among us. However, the provincial government has not yet been provided the full details of how this crisis will impact specific departments.
“What we do know from our engagements is that the scale of expenditure reductions that are now being considered will fundamentally comprise our, and other provinces’, ability to deliver critical front line services such as basic health care, education and social development services.
“This would not only happen at precisely the moment when our poorest communities need these services the most, but also when we face extensive pressure to expand services to accommodate a growing population in the province. Our education service, for example, has grown by an estimated 25 000 learners in this school year alone. Our view is that expenditure reductions that harm basic, constitutionally mandated services are thus neither credible nor rational, and would inflict severe and lasting damage on our service delivery platform,” he said.
Winde said the province is also asking the national government to take into consideration the “highly responsible spending record of the Western Cape government”, which he said has seen the province maintain acceptable headcount, and cost of employment to budget ratios.
“This is something we have worked very hard to get right, and we should not be punished for spending decisions made by other governments.”
“Here in the Western Cape to help grow our economy the Western Cape government is expected to spend an estimated R32 billion over the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) on critical infrastructure projects that will enable economic growth and job creation. We are more determined than ever to do as much as we can for the people who matter most in our province, our residents,” he said.