sector skills plan for the health sector in south africa

3.11 EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AND BEE
The Health Charter of 2006 was developed by the private and public health sectors to promote access,
equity and quality in health services, and to foster black economic empowerment (BEE). Among the core
strategies are to: 146
Enhance access by involving private sector professionals, especially doctors to provide primary
and clinical care in the public sector;
Create more equity by: developing a basic package of care available to all patients, irrespective of
their ability to pay; improving the profile of the health workforce to represent the population
demographic (with the aim that 60% be black and 50% be women by 2010); and adopting ethical
recruitment practices for health professionals;
Improve quality by training healthcare personnel on patients’ rights and dignity, by implementing
quality assurance programmes and learning from complaints of users of health services; and
Advance BEE through increased levels of black ownership of companies (35% by 2010 and 51% by
2014) and preferential procurement from black firms (60% by 2010 and 80% by 2014).
Observers noted that targets in the Health Charter resulted in a number of black empowerment deals
with the three major hospital groups and a number of smaller ones. While those deals met the BEE
objectives of the Health Charter, they failed to address the other objectives of access, equity and quality
in health service provision. 147
3.12 VETERINARY SERVICES 148
Veterinary professionals play a critical role in the treatment of diseases, parasites and pests in animals
that pose risks to economic growth, food security, public safety and human health. The traditional
veterinary profession has expanded to include a range of para-professionals such as animal health
technicians and veterinary nurses. The majority of the 2700 registered veterinarians work in the private
sector, with only approximately 200 employed in the public sector. 149 A particular challenge for
government is to enable emerging black and subsistence farmers to access veterinary services.
146 McIntyre, D., Thiede, M., Nkosi, M., et al. 2007. SHIELD work package 1 report: A critical analysis of the current South African
health system. Health Economics Unit, University of Cape Town. Published at
http://www.web.uct.ac.za/depts/heu/SHIELD/reports/SouthAfrica1.pdf. (Accessed August 2010); Macheke, C. 2010. HWSETA
Health Sector Baseline Study; Harrison, D. 2009. An Overview of Health and Health care in South Africa 1994-2010: Priorities,
Progress and Prospects for New Gains. Published at www.doh.gov.za (Accessed February 2010).
147 Harrison, D. 2009. An Overview of Health and Health care in South Africa 1994-2010: Priorities, Progress and Prospects for
New Gains. Published at www.doh.gov.za (Accessed February 2010).
148 At the time of writing accurate figures for veterinary practitioners were being compiled and will be included in the next
version of the documents.
149 Paterson, A. 2008. “Veterinary Skills”. In Kraak, A. and Press, K. Human Resources Development Review 2008: Education,
Employment and Skills in South Africa.
40