Statement by Minister, Pierre Uys, on the opening of the first-ever Chronic Dispensing Unit (CDU) in Western Cape

"With the opening of the CDU the Provincial Department of Health aims to dramatically reduce waiting times experienced by patients with chronic disorders such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, epilepsy and arthritis " said Minister Uys today.

The Department provides large numbers of patients with medication and it is estimated that at least 60% of all visits to 44 Community Health Centres (CHCs) is to get medication for chronic diseases.To promote increased efficiency of Primary Health Care service delivery for chronic diseases, the Department decided to establish a central Chronic Dispensing Unit and this has also been identified as one of the Premier's Christmas deliverables for 2005.

"The unit will order, receive, store, dispense and distribute medicine for stable patients with chronic diseases," says Minister Uys. "The CDU is operational as from today and the Department aims to have 5 000 chronic scripts (avg.4,5 items per script) delivered to CHC's by Christmas, after which there will be a rapid escalation of the services to reduce waiting times at pharmacies in the facilities concerned" he said.

At the CDU all the chronic medicines will be made ready and sent to the Community Health Centres - ready for the patients to collect. By reducing the waiting times, pharmacists will also have more time available for patient counselling.

During phase 1, from 1 December 2005 until 28 February 2006, communities attending CHC's within the Metropole will be the first to experience this new initiative. These areas include Kraaifontein, Elsies River, Delft, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Hanover Park, Retreat, Mitchell's Plain and Vanguard. Groote Schuur Hospital will also be included in the rollout process during this phase.

The second phase will follow during the nine months after the first rollout phase - from 1 March 2006 to 30 November 2006. During this period another 35 CHC's within the Metro District and the Cape Winelands region, such as TC Newman and Cloetesville, will be included.

Phase three will follow during the second 12 months of operation where the Department will roll out the CDU services to the following sites:

• the District hospitals in the Metro District: Wesfleur Hospital, False Bay Hospital and Eerste River Hospital
• the Secondary Level hospitals in the same District: GF Jooste Hospital, Somerset Hospital, Hottentots Holland Hospital, Victoria Hospital and Karl Bremer Hospital
• the Associated Psychiatric Hospitals
• the remaining Primary and Secondary Level services in the West Coast Winelands region: clinics, Regional and District Hospital
• the remaining Central Hospitals: Tygerberg Hospital and Red Cross Children's Hospital

The contract for the initiative has been awarded to a consortium, Institutional Pharmacy Management (Pty) Ltd.

"This is one of the many visible improvements that the Department has brought about recently to improve the quality of our people's lives" Minister Uys said.