Department of Defence Annual Report 2008-2009

| Department of Defence |
| Programme 5: Military Health Support |
the SAMHS was another focus area. The SAMHS
MSDS strategy was revised and amended. The
strategic decision to train more MSDS members
as emergency care technicians has increased the
SAMHS’s capacity in terms of these scarce skills.
These members will be utilised during the 2010
FIFA World Cup and, thereafter, be included in the
Reserves as SAMHS’s contribution to the “Core
Growth - One-Force” concept. The appointment
of identied MSDS members in the Core Service
System further contributed to the rejuvenation of
the SAMHS. The SAMHS contributed to gender
mainstreaming by effecting more appointments
of female members in management posts. The
development of a SAMHS Human Resources
Strategy will be monitored relentlessly to improve
overall human resource management and the
retention of scarce skills human resources.
The training capability of the SAMHS was identied
as a priority area of focus. Human and nancial
resources were made available to the training
capability to expand and ensure quality of training.
Progress has been made in terms of the procurement
of temporary infrastructure for accommodation and
the appointment of critical instructors. The School
for Military Health Training in Pretoria received
accreditation with the Health Professionals Council
of SA, for the presentation of the Emergency Care
Technician Programme. The industrial and research
intern programmes at the Military Psychological
Institute were rated by independent consultants for
the Health Professionals Council of South Africa,
as the best in South Africa. Various universities
have subsequently approached the SAMHS to
accommodate their Masters degree students in these
programmes.
The deployment of some categories of healthcare
practitioners ie medical, environmental health
and psychology ofcers have impacted on health
service delivery, and the ability to meet the demands
for external deployments. The critical human
resource shortages pose challenges for the effective
implementation of HIV/Aids programmes. The
overburdening of healthcare practitioners continued
to be a risk, and innovative mitigating actions were
put in place to address this risk. Presentations for a
unique military health service allowance have been
made to the strategic forums of the DOD. It is
envisaged that the ministerial drive for a uniform
allowance for healthcare practitioners will contribute
to possible recruitment successes in the future.
The SAMHS is faced with increasing demands for
operational support and base orientated services
that need to be provided in a challenging nancial
environment. To answer the strategic intent of the
SAMHS, the following developments are evaluated
as being priorities: the acquisition of four eld
hospitals, development of the landward vehicle
projects to provide the necessary operational
ambulance and health support vehicles, renewal of
main medical equipment for operational and base
orientated infrastructure, the procurement of an
integrated air medical evaluation and training system,
as well as the renewal of health facilities to render a
world-class military health service to patients.
The SAMHS turnaround strategy for facility
management has yielded results. The Repair and
Maintenance Programme (RAMP) at the three
military hospitals has progressed in spite of
challenges. Furthermore, the SAMHS has prioritised
its budget to repair its decentralised healthcare
facilities. Approval was obtained to build a new
medical depot for the safekeeping and warehousing
of pharmaceuticals and sundries, according to
international standards. The improvement of asset
and resource management was addressed through
increased audits, and the investment of funds to
secure state property.
The interventions to stimulate recruitment and
develop the Reserves to contribute to the “one
force” concept have yielded positive results. The
current strength of the Reserves in SAMHS is
1 616 members, of which 835 are men and 781
women. The SAMHS Reserve Battalion Groups
have employed 214 Reserves, of which six have
been deployed on external missions. Establishing
satellite units in Durban and Cape Town will extend
the University Reserve Training Unit pilot scheme.
In spite of challenges, 262 Reserves were missionready
trained. The possibility of decentralised and
modular training to ensure accessibility of training
is under investigation. The Reserves require a
bigger MSDS throughput to achieve the needed
rejuvenation, while the ability to recruit and retain
highly-skilled healthcare practitioners in the Reserves
continued to be a challenge.
The main issue affecting the output and achievement
of objectives of the SAMHS is the high turnover,
and subsequent understafng of healthcare
practitioners. The SAMHS is challenged to
maintain the motivation of the remaining healthcare
practitioners. During the upgrading process at the
three military hospitals, the SAMHS was successful
in continuing to render a military health service, and
to minimise the impact on patients as far as possible.
The unavailability of a technical support capability
has, however, impacted negatively on facility
management, the maintenance of vehicles and the
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