Through the MoU, medical aid schemes will support the GDOH in various activities associated with the provincial Health, Wellness and Happiness (HWH) campaign.

This initiative is aimed at scaling up efforts to curb rising mental health problems, lifestyle diseases and trauma cases.

“The parties [to the MoU] will advise or share ideas to craft and develop strategies for the Health, Wellness and Happiness campaign and ensure that relevant stakeholders and resources are availed to achieve its objectives,” said Health MEC, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa.

The three-year HWH campaign was launched in November 2018 in an effort to push back the prevailing disease burden ravaging communities.

The partnership was chosen for the parties to consider sharing, engage and co-develop the best management practices to improve the health and wellness of communities in Gauteng and society at large.

Constitutional right

Furthermore, parties will share information to develop plans for addressing the health and wellness challenges in the province, as per the legislation pertaining to the Protection of Personal Information Act.

“It’s enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 2 – Bill of Rights, section 27: people have the right to have access to healthcare services and section 24 enforces the right to an environment that is not harmful to the health and well-being of all South Africans,” said Ramokgopa.

The medical aid schemes and administrators, who are currently partnering with the department in this initiative, are GEMS, Discovery Health, Medscheme, and the Metropolitan Health Corporation.

“Through the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa), the GDOH is in the process of engaging several private hospital groups to partner on various initiatives to address the reduction of surgical backlogs and other areas of priority for the department,” said Ramokgopa.