Health
In relation to her Department’s EMS Vaxi Taxi initiative:
(a) How much funding has been allocated to this programme in the current financial year, (b) what are the objectives of this programme, (c) what indicators are used to measure its performance, (d) how many EMS officials are currently involved and (e) in which areas has the initiative been conducted in to date?
[a] There is a provisional allocation of R7,5 million (grant funding) for this financial year.
[b] The programme is directed at achieving 2 key goals:
1. Provide equitable access to vaccination in areas where uptake is slow due to multiple factors including, vulnerability, infrastructure (e.g. farms, Informal dwellings) geography (access to services and transport)
2. Build and establish relationships with the community stakeholders and the members of the communities’ themselves e.g. community leadership, neighbourhood watches and civic associations, NGOs etc. This is built om the premise that strong networks will help improve access and safety for EMS providers.
[c] We don’t have explicit indicators – we measure events and vaccinations since these are arranged on request.
[d] At the moment these are all volunteered by staff and those who are not immediately involved in service delivery – office based/managers. As we look at formalising these events going forward we will look at dedicated resources per district. The key principle is that no drop in service delivery must occur (i.e. – no drop in rostered ambulances for the day).
[e] These are active in all districts across the province.
