The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, to request the urgent establishment of a Parliamentary ad hoc committee, in terms of Section 253 of the Rules of the National Assembly and Section 42.3 of the Constitution, to perform oversight over the interministerial committee (IMC) headed by Deputy President David Mabuza that has been announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. It is important that Parliament starts to play its oversight role effectively. The DA has previously called on the establishment of an ad hoc committee to perform oversight over the Executive during the lockdown. The Speaker held at the time that the Portfolio Committee on Health could perform such a function. However, now that an IMC on the rollout of the vaccine plan has been established, a multi-party, multi-portfolio ad hoc committee which will have direct oversight over this IMC is vital.
The Eastern Cape Department of Health has admitted that their acting superintendent-general has misread a letter posted on a medical oxygen WhatsApp group, leading to a mistaken instruction to the provincial treasury to look for other manufacturers to augment supply.
The sole medical oxygen manufacturer for the province, Afrox, through its spokesperson Nolundi Rawana, insisted that there was no shortage of medical-grade oxygen in South Africa. However, Rawana said industrial customers were informed that because of a rapid increase in the demand for medical oxygen there was a need to convert industrial oxygen bulk tankers and cylinders to rapidly expand delivery logistics of medical-grade product.
Health Dept engaging EC on Covid19 reporting backlogs
Warning:
Read the artilce
Pixabay
The National Health Department said it was engaging Eastern Cape Health authorities to investigate the details of Covid19 reporting backlogs in the province.
This, after Health Minister, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, said in his latest report on Wednesday that 844 deaths were reported in a 24-hour period, with 452 coming from the province.
“The 452 deaths reported from the Eastern Cape are as a result of data reconciliation dating between May and November 2020. This includes analysis of community cases where post-mortem swabs were taken for COVID testing and analysis of clinical records where the diagnosis was unconfirmed at the time of demise,” Minister Mkhize said.
SA reacts to receiving 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in January
By Viwe Ndongeni-Ntlebi
Share
South Africans have mixed emotions on Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize’s announcement that the country will get one million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by this month, and 500 000 doses in February.
Some welcomed the news on social media, while others voiced their fears and concerns about the vaccine.
However, the minister expressed his joy with the “breakthrough.“
Should we wait for vaccine to be tweeked to be more effective for SA variant. Takes few weeks. nads (@n ad777) January 7, 2021
“We are happy that the SII/ Astra Zeneca vaccine has already been approved by various regulators and is being rolled out in other countries. Therefore, as part of expediting the regulatory process, SAHPRA is applying reliance on that regulatory work,” said Mkhize.