Limpopo Health and Welfare MEC, Sello Moloto, has announced steps to address the current shortage of medical officers in the province.

This was one of several urgent priorities he highlighted during his budget speech in the Provincial Legislature.

Moloto said that 30 more Cuban doctors would be appointed in various posts from August this year. The department had also earmarked an amount of R20 million to fund the employment of enrolled nurses and nursing asistants, to fill 400 vacancies.

The nursing appointments would amount to the filling of an average of three vacancies at each medical centre in the province. Moloto said health officials had established close contact with communities in the province during the past year, and had listened carefully to the concerns raised by people at grassroots level.

"We have gone back to the drawing boards, to re-focus and re-prioritise", he said. Due to a lack of adequate funding, the department had experienced a vacancy rate of 40,5 percent, which had impacted negatively on service delivery. The MEC also announced that efforts were underway to re-deploy health professionals, trained by the province, who had defaulted on their contractual obligations.

Sixty of the 105 defaulters had responded to a government appeal to meet their commitments. So far 18 had resumed their service, while others had opted to repay their loans.

This situation had forced the department to review its future selection criteria and contract management procedures.

Turning to other issues, Moloto said R400 million would be allocated to the payment of arrear pensions, and R250 million would be utilised to purchase medication for the treatment of HIV/Aids patients.

The MEC also drew attention to the fact that some health services would be taken over by municipalities. The implementation of ongoing malaria control measures would also continue to be an important task.

Meanwhile, the establishment of more 24-hour clinics had become a matter of great urgency. Attention to security arrangements at isolated clinics would be an important factor, in making this target a reality.

In addition, the problem of water shortages at rural health centres was being resolved. So far, 120 clinics had been supplied with viable water systems.