Government talks about health
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) in Mpumalanga and Ehlanzeni District Municipality recently brought environmental health practitioners in Mpumalanga to its third provincial Municipal Health Services (MHS) summit at Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resort.
They focused on raising awareness on the functions of MHS as part of basic service delivery; providing a learning opportunity for environmental health practitioners, finding solutions for problems relating to environmental health and facilitating cooperative governance and intergovernmental relations in the environmental health sector.
The executive mayor of the City of Mbombela, Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi, officially welcomed the delegates and guests and asked delegates to tighten controls on counterfeit goods, and build capacity to deal with toxic and hazardous waste which is disposed of in rivers, impacting badly in communities.
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He was supported by Cllr Mavis Charles, interim chairman of the provincial working group, who said environmental health practitioners in Mpumalanga have experienced lots of challenges when it comes to food control, especially regarding school food nutrition.
A message of support was received from the executive mayor of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, who urged communities to work together against the smuggling of counterfeit goods into the country that poses a risk to our economy and health of communities.
The keynote address was delivered by the MEC for the Mpumalanga Department of Health, Sasekani Manzini, who said in all engagements she champions the National Health Insurance Bill, introducing and explaining what it is and how it will benefit South Africans once implementation begins.
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The summit concluded with resolutions being presented and adopted by the delegates, for implementation as part of the action plan that will be developed.
