The quality of healthcare services in the Robertson District is set for a further boost following the announcement today of a R700000 extension to the partnership that has already seen 15 farm workers from the area qualify as home-based healthcare providers.
This investment is being made possible through a partnership between South Africa’s leading medical scheme administrator, Medscheme, the Cape Women’s Forum and Breede River Hospice. In the first phase of the partnership, Medscheme invested R500000 in the development of much-needed healthcare skills among people from the Robertson district.
This investment enabled 15 people to be trained as home-based healthcare providers. Those 15 people graduated from the training programme today. They will now take up their roles in supporting healthier communities in the Langeberg Valley under the auspices of Robertson Hospital.
Having spent the past year being trained in home-based care through Medscheme’s investment, these healthcare workers from the Langeberg Valley were honoured and presented with their Auxiliary Nursing Certificates in home based care at a certification ceremony hosted at the Graham and Rhona Becks Centre in Robertson.
The Medscheme investment in this training started in July 2010 when 15 farm workers were chosen to be part of the training programme. The programme itself is facilitated by the Cape Women’s Forum and Breede River Hospice.
Overseen by the Department of Health in the Langeberg area, the training provided farm workers with much needed skills to offer care to the community of Langeberg at their homes, alleviating the congestion at Robertson State Hospital which serves a population of 85,000 people with 456 outpatients and 38 new admissions every month.
The training modules included both theoretical and practical sections.
Medscheme’s executive director for Branding and Communications, Yvonne Motsisi, says that in the context of the recently released green paper on the National Health Insurance (NHI), Medscheme’s investment in this programme supports the long-term vision for healthcare recently announced by Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
“We are particularly pleased to have invested in training South Africans in basic primary healthcare, which is the foundation for the success of the NHI,” says Motsisi.
“Medscheme has decided to continue with an additional R700 000 investment to train 15 more farmworkers in the coming year. This will contribute to the re-engineering of primary healthcare in South Africa and improving access to quality, affordable healthcare in rural communities.
“As a company with a 40-year heritage in health administration and a Level 3 BBBEE contributor, Medscheme recognises the challenges that South Africa faces in terms of the shortages of qualified healthcare personnel. Our Socio-Economic Development Initiatives are therefore aimed at creating a world of sustainable healthcare for all South Africans,” she says.
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