Gone are the days when ex-miners within the
Northern Cape Province would travel long distances to get the medical
assistance. Help is now in their
vicinity.
Kuruman - Deputy Minister
Godfrey Oliphant, officially opened the Kuruman One Stop Health Service centre
at Kuruman Hospital, in the Northern Cape on behalf of Deputy President Cyril
Ramaphosa. The
One Stop Health Service Centre is aimed at providing integrated services to
both active and ex-mine workers where TB and occupational lung disease
assessments as well as administrative services for compensation are delivered
in one place. The project is a
collaboration by various stakeholders led by the government and supported by
the captains of the mining industry, organised labour and current ex-mine
worker associations with the aim to de-centralise services to claimants and
beneficiaries.
Furthermore,
the Kuruman One stop service centre is part of the Department of health’s
ongoing service roll-out campaign to current ex mine workers following the
minister of health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s national launch of the Ku-Riha project
in Carletonville, Gauteng Province to trace eligible previous and current mine
workers who had not claimed their compensation benefits over the last 30 years
after they contracted occupational lung disease during their employment.
In addressing
more than 4 000 members of the Kuruman community including ex-mine workers, the
deputy minister said; “Initially, there were more than R1,5 billion allocations
for compensation of 106 000 unpaid claimant files belonging to ex-mine workers
when the project began. The number of claimants that have been paid has grown
significantly with 8320 claimants paid R260 million over the last year till
November 2017.There is also a database of 600 000 ex-mineworkers
that is electronically available to check on the claim status of an ex-mineworker.
Mobile health services are also provided in districts that do not have access
to the One Stop Service Centre.”
Source: GCIS (kuruman)
Photos: suppied by GCIS
No comments:
Post a Comment