District eye care planning in Mpumalanga
In July 2013, the Community Eye Health Institute engaged into consultation with the Mpumalanga Provincial Eye Care Programme about district eye care planning for Gert Sibande District (GSD), one of the 11 pilot sites of the National Health Insurance (NHI), which is to be implemented in South Africa over the next decade and a half. This consultation comprised of three components: a situational analysis, (conducted telephonically using standard questionnaires and with site visits to fill the gaps in the data obtain through tele-collection), a consultative workshop and the drafting and presentation of a district eye care plan. The workshop took place in Badplaas, Mpumalanga in July 2013.
The preparation for and build-up to this started at the NHI and School Eye health workshop held in Nelspruit in June 2012. At this workshop, the Mpumalanga Provincial Eye care programme delegates obtained a briefing about the NHI’s aims and objectives, with particular focus on eye care and school eye health services. One of the outcomes of this workshop was a proposal from UCT-CEHI to develop a district eye care plan for GSD in consultation with the Mpumalanga Provincial Eye care programme. It was decided to conduct a situational analysis of eye care services in GSD to serve as baseline for the GSD district eye care planning.
The purpose of this meeting was to engage in consultation with stakeholders of the Provincial eye care programme with the aim of developing and expanding eye care services in Gert Sibande District, by making optimal use of the opportunities and guidelines set by the National Health Insurance Pilot project.
The district planning consultation commenced in June 2013. The workshop (NHI and Eye Care) took place over one and a half days at the Badplaas Forever Resort in Mpumalanga and was attended by 56 members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Eye Care team (ophthalmologists, ophthalmic medical officers, ophthalmic nurses, optometrists and other eye trained nurses) plus 22 school health nurses, including the Provincial Eye Care Manager (Dr Abraham Varghese), the Deputy Director-General for the National Health Insurance (Dr Savera Mohangi) and the Provincial School Health Services Coordinator Ms Sparara Masinga. The CEHI facilitator team was made up by Mr Deon Minnies and Dr Karin Lecuona, of UCT’s Community Eye Health Institute.
During the workshop, the delegates were given an update about the progress of the NHI pilot project, an overview of the eye care services in Gert Sibande District and a description of school health services involving eyes in the district. A draft plan was also presented, and the proposed activities discussed and debated for necessity, relevance and feasibility, in the context of two core NHI non-negotiables, namely increasing access and strengthening capacity for service delivery. At the end of the workshop it was agreed that the draft plan would be revised, incorporating the amendments agreed upon. It is expected that, once complete, with costing and scheduling, it would be ready for marketing and implementation.
This project aligns very much with CEHI’s strategy of supporting the development of and improvement of eye care programme performance to the end of meeting Vision 2020 aims. This collaboration between MPU and CEHI is now in its fourth year.