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Members of the public have been lining up since Monday to be seen by military doctors aboard the floating hospital.
Despite the miserable winter weather, snow on Table Mountain and high winds, Cape Town residents’ enthusiasm for the free medical care provided on the Chinese ship currently docked in the South African city’s port remains undiminished.
The economic crisis in one of Africa’s largest and most developed countries has left public services underfunded and many people say they are unable to afford private healthcare due to soaring prices.
This comes months after the government signed into law a controversial new health scheme aimed at providing universal health care for all, but in the face of threats of legal challenges. There is.
Since China’s so-called “Ark of Peace” arrived last week, more than 2,000 South Africans have received treatments on board ranging from prenatal check-ups and cataract surgery to cupping therapy.
China enjoys a strong political partnership with South Africa, and this is the latest show of soft power by Beijing.
Lucy Munyani told local media that she was happy to see images of her unborn child for the first time, adding: “I was going to the day hospital in Gugulethu and Langa (townships) and they took me for a CT scan. “They never sent me anything,” he said.
Joseph Williams, another man in the queue, told national broadcaster SABC:
“The response was very quick and I’m glad I came. I was actually able to get the results of what I had been working on.”
Officials said the ship can accommodate 700 patients daily and the service is part of a joint training exercise between the South African and Chinese militaries. The ship has 100 people on board, 300 beds, 20 intensive care beds, an operating room, a medical department and even a rescue helicopter.
During the first two days of the Ark of Peace, treatment was provided to pre-selected people before opening to the public on Monday.
“We have coordinated with night shelters to provide services to people living on the streets of Cape Town without access to medical care,” Saadiq Kariem, director of the Western Cape Department of Health, told the BBC.
He added that elderly people living in care homes were also brought in for medical care and health visits were provided to medical staff in the Western Cape.
“It took an hour from registration to completion of treatment,” Dr. Karim said. As a private citizen himself, he went for a health check and joined the line.
“This will take longer because there are many more people in our public health facilities who need services.”
A total of 57 surgeries have been performed so far, bringing the state’s waiting list of 80,000 patients down just a bit.
And this is in the Western Cape, which has probably one of the best health systems in the country.
“These were mainly orthopedic surgeries, cataract surgeries, and a few tubal ligations for women who no longer wanted to become pregnant,” Dr. Karim said.
Dr. Shuaib Manjurah, president of the Health Justice Initiative, said Peace Ark’s popularity is telling, saying it “shows that the public health system in this state and across the country is not serving people as well as it should.” “There is,” he said.
“We often see people spending entire days in clinics waiting to be seen. Hospitals have large backlogs, budgets and posts have been cut, and as a result, after waiting to be seen… “I often end up missing up to two days of work. I go to see a doctor for a simple procedure,” he told the BBC.
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Analysts say the Ark of Peace’s popularity is not surprising given South Africa’s extremely strained public health system.
The African National Congress (ANC) says the National Health Insurance (NHI) system will be significantly improved, with all services in both public and private facilities now free at the point of treatment and paid for from a central fund. It says that it will be.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi remains in power despite his party losing its parliamentary majority in May and forming a coalition with parties such as the Democratic Alliance (DA) that oppose some aspects of the plan. He insisted that this plan would be implemented.
This would cause a major upheaval in the medical field, but critics fear it could prompt an exodus of medical professionals.
The system is vociferously opposed by private medical companies because it prohibits people from purchasing private health insurance for treatment.
Currently, about 14% of the population receives private healthcare, with the remaining 86% relying on overburdened state clinics and hospitals.
Last week, Business Unity South Africa and the South African Medical Association signed a deal known as the Health Pact, an annual agreement with the President that sets out how different sectors will address health challenges in the coming year. refused to sign.
Both groups, which represent private companies and 12,000 doctors, are angry about the current form of National Health Insurance, which they feel is being imposed on them.
Dr Manjula said that while national health insurance was a “noble idea”, he understood his reservations.
“Our history of corruption and incompetence has the potential to destroy the entire health sector. In some cases, there are estimates that up to a third of health budgets are lost to corruption.”
Addressing these issues within the public health sector should be a priority, he said.
AFP
South African army medics also perform surgeries on the well-equipped Peace Ark.
South African military spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini told the BBC that the response to the Ark of Peace had been overwhelming, with good feedback about the “care and attention it received”.
The floating hospital will leave Cape Town on Thursday for Angola before moving on to several other countries. It has already visited Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique, and this will be its 10th expedition since its commissioning in 2008.
The initiative is seen as a further step in China’s efforts to increase its influence on the African continent.
Over the past two decades, trade with Africa has grown steadily, while the Chinese government has also become increasingly involved in the construction sector, building large sports stadiums in several locations on the continent.
Other BBC articles about South Africa:
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