Gauteng is a province of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal province after South Africa’s first all-race elections on 27 April 1994. It was initially named Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (or PWV) and was renamed Gauteng in December 1994. See more. Gauteng Department of Health has made fair progress since 1994 with the building of clinics and health centres close to communities but services are still fragmented and deprived of more well-trained doctors and nurses. Gauteng Health is determined to strengthen the District Health Services through teamwork so that patients can get good health care right in their community.
Gauteng Province is divided into three Metropolitan Municipalities: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane (the metro municipalities are further divided into regions) + two District Municipalities: West Rand and Sedibeng (the district municipalities are further divided into local municipalities). The structure of the Gauteng Department of Health (and Family Medicine) is aligned to these Municipalities as Health Districts and Sub-Districts. There is a strong overlap between Family Medicine Principles and Primary Health Care Principles (enshrined as District Health Service Principles in the South African National Health Act, 2004).
- Background on Gauteng Province
- Gauteng Provincial Government
- Gauteng Provincial Legislature
- Gauteng Department of Health
- Important Economic Development Organisations:
Family Medicine in Gauteng
There is a strong overlap between Family Medicine Principles and Primary Health Care Principles (enshrined as District Health Service Principles in the South African National Health Act, 2004).
There is a strong overlap between Family Medicine Principles and Primary Health Care Principles (enshrined as District Health Service Principles in the South African National Health Act, 2004). This has been explored in Gauteng since 2005 and the role of Family Medicine is slowly being appreciated within the government priority of primary health care. One important step has been the setting up of Family Medicine, the specialty in clinical primary care, in the District Health Services. Gauteng Health and three Universities (Wits, Pretoria and MEDUNSA) started a process of transformation by jointly placing Family Physicians, specialists in clinical primary care, into each of the six Health Districts covering the whole of Gauteng ( Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, West Rand, Sedibeng and Metsweding). District Family Physicians lead the Family Physician-Doctor-Nurse clinician team in Departments of Family Medicine & Primary Health Care in each District. The focus of the Family Physicians has been to strengthen the Community Health Centres and District Hospitals and improve doctor visits to clinics.
