View Document - Parliament of South Africa

15 WEDNESDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2008
16
● On 2008-03-11 a Nokia cellphone
was confiscated from an awaitingtrial
detainee.
● On 2008-08-25 a Nokia cellphone
battery was confiscated from an
awaiting-trial detainee.
● On 2008-08-26 a Nokia cellphone
and a SIM card were discovered in
the correctional centre.
Terminally ill prisoners
1541. Mr I E JENNER (ID) asked the
Minister of Correctional Services:
(a) How many terminally ill prisoners
are incarcerated, (b) how many of
these prisoners are in (i) private
hospitals, (ii) prison hospitals and
(iii) prison cells and (c) how is the
decision made as to where a terminally
ill prisoner should be kept?
NW2287E
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES:
(a) 170 terminally ill inmates are incarcerated.
(b) (i) One is in a private hospital.
(ii) 115 are in the correctional centre
in-patient facilities.
(iii) One is in correctional centre cell,
with the remaining total of 53 being
in provincial hospitals.
(c) The decision as to where a terminally ill
inmate (patient) should be kept, involves
collaboration between the professional
nurses and the attending
medical practitioners, taking into consideration
the health status (clinical
condition) of the inmate (patient). In
other instances the medical practitioners
and professional nurses treating
the patient will take into account the
type of care that the patient may require,
the frequency of care that the
patient must receive, and the availability
of health resources.
In other instances the patients are referred
for treatment in the provincial
hospitals where they will be admitted,
treated and later discharged back to the
correctional centre with further indications
on how they should be further
cared for. Some of the patients referred
to these public hospitals are not admitted
as anticipated and as such they are
then accommodated either in the correctional
centre in-patient facilities or
the single cells.
In other instances where a provincial
hospital indicates that there is no capacity
to admit the patient, then the
patient will be referred to a private
hospital for further management of
his/her health condition.
Official poverty line index
1596. Mr D T GEORGE (DA) asked the
Minister of Finance:
Whether an official poverty line index as
announced in the 2008 Budget Speech has
been introduced; if not, (a) what progress
has been made in finalising the index and
(b) when will the introduction take place;
if so, what are the relevant details?
NW2345E
The MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES:
(a) The introduction of an official poverty
line index was planned for March 2008
as indicated in the Budget Speech.
Subsequent to this announcement, the
introduction of the poverty line index
was postponed in order to facilitate
consideration of stakeholder views that
emerged in response to the planned
publication process.
Given the diversity of stakeholder audiences,
this meant undertaking additional
research and expanding the
technical document in ways that would
enable stakeholders to better understand
the poverty line and its place in
poverty measurement.
The process for this additional work is
nearing completion, with validation