The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is an independent institution established in terms of Chapter 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, (the Constitution) to support constitutional democracy. The mandate of the SAHRC is to promote, protect and monitor the observance of human rights in the Republic. In line with its promotional mandate, the SAHRC must educate and raise awareness to promote respect for human rights and a culture of human rights.
The right to have access to health care services is a basic human right guaranteed by the Constitution. Section 27 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care services and no one may be refused emergency medical treatment. The right to access health care includes pregnant or lactating women and pregnant women who are eligible for termination of pregnancy services in accordance with the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996. In addition, all children are entitled to access basic health care, which right is reinforced by the special protections for the rights of children entrenched in Section 28 of the Constitution. The right to health care can however be limited in certain instances, depending on the availability of resources.
The Constitution provides that the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights, which includes the right to have access to health care services. The Constitution further provides that the State must take reasonable measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care. The Department of Health, together with the provincial departments of health have the responsibility to provide health care services in the country. In order to create ease of access and reduce demand on hospitals, clinics at local level provide basic health care services. Clinics refer appropriate cases to hospitals assigned to receive patients from particular areas. These hospitals in turn refer complex matters to larger designated hospitals which are equipped to deliver certain expert services. Despite the arrangements; backlogs and long waiting lists are common at various levels of the referral system.
A health care user refers to any person using any health care facility, be it private or public. Such a person has the following rights:
A health care user has a right to give informed consent prior to receiving any health care service. This means that no health care service can be given to a user before the user agrees to receive such a service and the user must understand what he/she is consenting to.
The South African health system is overwhelmed with the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to existing challenges in healthcare service delivery. Despite significant progress in the South African health system since 1994, the country faces challenges in healthcare service delivery which include lack of funding and insufficient budget, environmental change and unequal distribution of resources (including health facilities, healthcare workers, inadequate production, and inadequate recruitment especially in rural areas, for both the public sector and private sector. Other challenges include slow progress in restructuring the healthcare system, Increased disease burden, management and leadership crisis caused by poor leadership and inadequate management has reflected in a lack of vision, lack of clear philosophy and poor goal setting in the healthcare sector. In addition to these challenges, South African health system is plagued with acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face shield or goggles, heavy-duty apron and gloves, as well as N95 respirators for frontline healthcare professionals due to disruptions in the global supply chain of medical equipment.
The future of healthcare is set to be agile and innovative in adapting to the ever-changing needs from all role players, including providers, facilities, members and the Department of Health. Public/private partnerships will be critical going forward to ensure more equitable access to all South Africans.
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