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By Joseph Monaheng 
Gauteng Department of Health has been allocated R56,5 billion budget  for 2021/2022 financial year.
This was announced by the Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi during the tabling of the Department's budget speech at   Legislature in Johannesburg on Thursday, 17 June 2021.
Budget allocation has been made for various programmes of the Department such as health infrastructure, comprehensive health response to COVID-19, emergency medical services and implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) and Emergency Medical Services, amongst others.  
Dr Mokgethi said R169.6 billion has been allocated over the 2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to fund the provision of quality health services in Gauteng.
She said the Department has directed special focus on programmes that prioritise treatment and care and also maximise the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine programme. 
"In the 2021/22 financial year, a total additional amount of R2 billion has been made available for province's Comprehensive Health Response to COVID-19 which is allocated for, amongst others the rollout of the vaccination programme at 330 sites and supporting additional human resources required," said the MEC. 
While it is important to tackle the COVID-19 disease, Dr Mokgethi acknowledged that it is equally important to continue the provision of essential services in a pandemic context to prevent mortality related to the discontinuation of essential services.
"It is for this reason that we encouraged registration of outpatients on the Central Chronic Medication Dispensary and Distribution programme. This is to ensure that patients receiving medication through our OPD services would not be impacted by failure to access medicine at facilities due to lockdown regulations," said Dr Mokgethi.
On the other hand, MEC Mokgethi said an amount of R150.8 million is allocated towards the implementation of the NHI over the 2021 MTEF. 
MEC Mokgethi, said NHI budget allocation will be used  towards preparing the health care system for the universal healthcare system by improving patient's experience of care, improving clinical outcomes, and ensuring that all facilities have achieved the Ideal Clinic and Ideal Hospital status as well as certification of health facilities.
MEC Mokgethi added that the health infrastructure will be allocated R2.3 billion to help improve health facilities. . 
"We have invested on additional infrastructure and clinical care to enhance the capacity of beds in various hospitals across the province. One of the noteworthy facilities is Jubilee District Hospital, we have revamped its capacity to include the newly built ward, CT scan and skills laboratory," she said. 

​Emergency Medical Services will receive R1.5 billion in the 2021/22 financial year and R4.8 billion over the 2021 MTEF to improve emergency response times in urban and rural areas.  
MEC Mokgethi added that Emergency Medical Services will also be equipped to deal with neo-natal cases and the Department will finalise the integration of vehicle tracking.

 [SV(1]She is not MEC for Department. She is MEC for Health