Health to be intensified in schools
The Gauteng Department of Health is set to intensify its school health programme this year to screen schoolchildren for conditions that undermine their learning.
Last year the department screened well over 50 000 learners from different schools for a range of health conditions.
The department’s 61 school health teams, which are made up of a professional nurse and an enrolled nurse and/or an assistant nurse, screened 57 095 learners last year.
Of these learners, 6 347 were referred to local clinics and hospitals for specialist care and further investigation.
Prevalent cases that were identified were oral health, eye care, hearing difficulties, speech and suspected tuberculosis.
During these visits, immunisation is also one of the key services that are provided to children.
Over and above the immunisation, the children are also assisted with psychosocial support.
To ensure that positive change is effected, there are also follow-up visits.
The major aim of the teams is to ensure that challenges that may impact negatively on effective learning are picked up early and dealt with properly.
As an adjunct to the screenings, the teams also focused on enlightening learners on general hygiene habits and healthy eating.
“This is one of the department’s initiatives to strengthen primary healthcare and to ensure that preventable health factors that undermine the children’s learning process are eliminated to ensure that children do not drop out of school,” said Gauteng Health MEC, Hope Papo.
He also encouraged parents to sign consent forms sent home with the children from school before these visits so that they do not miss out on vital immunisations.
The department has also noted an increase in the demand for primary health care services proving that Gauteng communities are now confident in treatment and care provided in clinics and community health centres.
During the year 2012/13, 23 063 294 visits were made to primary health care centres compared to 20 240 982 in the year 2010/11.
On average, a person visits a clinic twice in a year.
“It’s encouraging to see that our hard work is bearing results in various aspects of our business and more communities have access to our facilities,” says Papo.
According to the Papo, this notable increase in the number of visits can be attributed to, amongst others, the implementation of the Ward Based Outreach Teams (WBOT).
A total number of 49 WBOT have been established and they visit households and provide health care to the frail and old.
In making primary healthcare even more accessible, 26 out of 32 Community Health Centres now provide 24-hour services.
Of the province’s 317 clinics, 112 have extended their hours of operation and instead of closing at 4pm, they now close at 6pm, during the week and on weekends they start at 7.30am to1pm.
“Based on this success, it’s proper to praise those hard-working department employees who are making it possible for communities to access quality health care service,” concluded Papo.
