Children from all over the Northern Cape Province will be smiling even brighter this week after receiving life-changing surgery at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH)  in Kimberley. This is all thanks to a fruitful collaboration between the Northern Cape Department of Health (NCDOH) and the Smile Foundation. Smile Week, an initiative by the Smile Foundation, is taking place from the 15th to the 19th of April where a number of children are undergoing life-changing surgery to repair a cleft lip and pallet which will improve their ability to eat, drink and talk properly. Surgical, Nursing and Ward staff have come together to provide patients the best care possible at the RMSH, which is the only tertiary hospital in the province. 

The Smile Foundation has also collaborated with NCDOH in the past few years by refurbishing the Burns Unit which has made it possible for almost a thousand patients to receive reconstructive surgery after suffering severe burns. Dr Maria Giaquinto-Cilliers, the Plastic and Reconstruction Surgeon performing the surgeries, who is also the head of the Burns Unit at RMSH, encouraged the public to play their part in making a difference by pledging a donation to the Smile Foundation so that more lives can be touched by this initiative. 
 

The Northern Cape Premier, Dr. Zamani Saul together with the MEC responsible for Health, Mr. Maruping Lekwene and Acting HOD for Health Mr Mxolisi Mlatha officiated the Sod Turning of the brand new clinic in Schmidtsdrift, Siyancuma Local Municipality.
The actual construction work of the new health care facility will commence in due course. This facility will bring much needed health care services to the local community of Schmidtsdrift as part of Provincial Government’s commitment to improving the quality of accessible and responsive health care services, which is in line and consistent with the vision of ‘a modern health system delivering quality care to a growing province.’
The facility will comprise of among others,- staff accommodation of two 2 bedroom units to ensure availability of accommodation and increase the propensity to retain the staff, Emergency Medical Service (EMS) base which will ensure constant availability of an ambulance to timeously respond to emergencies. 
Premier Saul, in his address urged members of the local community to ensure that young people further their studies so they can plough back into the community as nurses, doctors and paramedics. 

In an effort to accelerate our efforts towards the new targets of 95-95-95 in the Province, the Northern Cape Provincial Government commemorated the Provincial World TB Day at Thabo Moorosi Multi-Purpose Centre in Gasegonyana local municipality. 
This year’s commemoration is held under the theme; ‘Yes! You and I Can End TB’. The theme aims to encourage individual action to contribute to the national effort against TB. It also emphasizes the importance of being accountable as an individual and as part of a collective to encourage individuals to take charge of their health in line with “Cheka Impilo” objectives as well as the country’s endeavour towards finding the missing TB clients.

Towards the realisation of strengthening human resource capacity in public health care facilities across the Province, today the Northern Cape Department of Health bids farewell to 10 successful candidates recruited to study Medicine in Cuba through the Mandela-Castro Medical Collaboration Programme. 
This year’s intake of medical students is in-line with the commitment made by Health MEC, Maruping Lekwene during the 2023/2024 Departmental Budget Speech. 
This collaboration is based on the 1996 bilateral agreement signed between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of Cuba. Since the inception of this programme in 2000 up to date , it has produced 149 doctors for Northern Cape. They are spread across the five municipal districts to alleviate the shortage of medical personnel in order to improve health care service delivery.