The Operation Phakisa Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance segment launched on 18 November 2014 seeks to transform all public sector clinics into Ideal Clinics which provide good quality care to all communities. President Jacob Zuma said this on Thursday 13 August 2015 during his report to Media and Stakeholders on Operation Phakisa implementation at Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Pretoria.
Reporting on the Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance segment, the President said the Ideal Clinic is a health facility that opens on time in the morning, according to its set operating hours, and does not close until the last patient has been assisted, even if this is beyond the normal closing hours. He said It is staffed by health care providers who treat people with dignity, and who observe the Batho Pele principles of Access; Consultation; Courtesy; Information; Service Standards; Openness and Transparency; Redress; and Value for Money. The ideal clinic will provide community-based health promotion and disease prevention programmes in collaboration with the community. It is very clean, promotes hygiene and takes all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of diseases. It has reasonable waiting times. Community members do not have to sacrifice their entire working day to seek health care. It provides a comprehensive package of good quality health services every day, and community members do not have to return on different days for different services. It has the basic necessities available, such as essential medicines. It refers people to higher levels of care timeously when this is required. It works together with the community it serves, with diverse stakeholders, in promoting health and socio-economic development. The Ideal Clinic workstreams have been looking at eight areas, Service Delivery, Waiting Times, Human Resources, Infrastructure, Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, Scaling up and Sustainability and Institutional Arrangements. Progress made thus far includes the implementation of the Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution Programme. This is a medicine distribution programme for stable patients who do not need to see a doctor or a nurse, but are just coming to collect their monthly supply of medication. Their supplies are delivered to them at pick-up points agreed to by both Government and patients. The President said as a result, at total of two hundred and ten thousand eight hundred and forty (210 840) patients who are stable and are on chronic medication no longer need to queue for repeat medication. The architectural designs for the Ideal Clinic have been finalised which will be used in the building or refurbishment of Ideal Clinics. Using the same designs, 216 new clinics are going to be built. In eight clinics, contractors are already on site. In another eight, contractors are ready to go on site. One of the biggest complications arising from running the biggest Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Programme in the world is the logistics of supplying medicines to all the clinics and hospitals. President Zuma said sometimes some clinics will report a stock-out of medicines when in fact medicine warehouses are still full. This problem is being solved through special cell phone technology whereby nurses are able to use a specially supplied cell phone to scan the barcodes on the medicine bottles and packaging, and learn immediately if there is stock-out or not. This information is relayed electronically to the National, Provincial or District Office, for urgent and appropriate action. A total of 1 200 clinics in four provinces already provide this service, in KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. A plan is in place to roll out to the remaining five provinces. As part of service delivery, especially to pregnant women, a system called MomConnect is being implemented, whereby pregnant women are registered with the Department of Health through cell phones so as to receive messages appropriate to their term of pregnancy. A number of 455 126 mothers have been registered. A number of 361 of them have lodged complaints while 2 015 have sent in compliments. In the past, the number of health professionals needed in the system were determined in terms of population figures, such as one doctor per ten thousand population. This system was found to be unhelpful. The World Health Organisation came up with a new formula called the Workload Indicator of Staffing Need, which is a more scientific tool. This determination has been completed in all our clinics and implementation is underway. “As the above projects show, we can confidently say that the building of the Ideal Clinic for the public is on track,” President Zuma said.
With regards to Operation Phakisa in basic education, the President said the intention is to further improve the quality of basic education by introducing Information Communication Technology into the delivery and management of education. Preliminary work has begun and the education Phakisa lab process will begin in September-October this year. “We are happy with the progress made thus far with Operation Phakisa and look forward to the launch of the new segments. The implementation of Operation Phakisa and the Big Fast Results methodology has certainly changed the way Government conducts its business and introduced a new approach of syndication to resolve issues. The respective Government departments are being forced to rid themselves from the “silo mentality” and work together towards a common goal,” he said.
He further said Operation Phakisa has compelled Government to engage with all stakeholders simultaneously to craft a vision and mechanism for unlocking the economic potential of South Africa’s oceans and other sectors.
He thanked all stakeholders for supporting this worthwhile project which is changing the way government works for the betterment of society and to improve the quality of life of all people.
Government launched Operation Phakisa last year, starting with the Ocean Economy and later unveiled the ideal clinic initiative. Government is preparing to launch Operation Phakisa segments in mining and basic education.
Operation Phakisa is derived from Malaysia’s Big Fast Results Methodology which that country used successfully to achieve rapid economic transformation. It also forms part of the Nine Point Plan to reignite growth and boost job creation, as announced in the State of the Nation Address. The programme brings together various sectors such as business, labour, academia and government. They work together to develop delivery action plans in intensive work sessions called laboratories.
