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Abstract
Health care is an important facet of the basic needs approach. Health care for black people in Natal is fragmented both with regard to the responsible authority (Department of National Health and Population Development, Natal Provincial Administration, Development Services Board, local authorities and welfare clinics) and spatially (since there is an overlap with KwaZulu health services). Access to health facilities (permanent and mobile), although adequate in some areas, is insufficient in others: the deficiency is most marked in rural areas and with regard to permanent health facilities. Crucial statistical data pertaining to health status are inadequate partly because of the aforementioned fragmentation and partly because they are collected for administrative rather than monitoring purposes. Questions are posed regarding future access to health care in the light of the new constitutional dispensation, privatisation and the inadequate attention being given to primary health care.
Notes
The financial assistance of the Institute for Research Development of the Human Sciences Research Council towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this publication and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the Institute for Research Develoment or the Human Sciences Research Council.
The co‐operation and assistance of the Central Statistical Services and the Department of National Health and Population Development are gratefully acknowledged.
Centre for Social and Development Studies, University of Natal, Durban.