When I think about the Public Health Sector in South Africa, I think of long waiting hours which sometimes lead to receiving excellent quality or not so up to par quality of care. However, it is affordable and meaning that it is easily accessible people who cannot afford to spend money on medicines and seeing a doctor every time that they are feeling ill. Health is the ability to access a doctor and medical care when needed, most of the time anyone can walk into a public hospital or clinic and receive medical attention without having to spend much. Public hospitals and clinics address communities with social determinants that prevent them from healthcare in general. It is where people receive free medicines and free education on how to take care of themselves (behavioural determinants) and protect themselves from biological agents such as TB and STD’s. Public hospitals often have posters and pamphlets around the waiting area, the sitting area just before the patient sees the doctor and in the doctor’s office.
Nevertheless, the public health sector needs to improve the quality of care, just because it is easily accessible and almost anyone can receive help does not mean that the way that medical care is given to patients is the most efficient and effective. Waiting for long hours to see doctors, waiting long to receive medicines, or still having the handwritten system is makes it difficult for the public health sector to have a big of an impact that it could have on the overall health of the communities that it serves. Lack of organization makes means that even if good evaluations are carried out, interventions could possible not be caried out in the most effective way. Overall, the Health Care System of public health sector is made of many component parts that would require some improvement.
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