22 February 2005: No 09/04

ELEMENTS OF HEALTH CARE

SAHMS as a health care provider has a holistic strategy that is based on different levels of health care. There are three levels of care. They are Primary health care, Secondary health care and Tertiary health care:

Primary Health Care:  PHC is not only the foundation of the care continuum, but it is also the entry point into the system where equity must be ensured through maximum accessibility.  PHC must ultimately create the environment within which people can prosper and where the patient can make informed decisions, also because they are informed and educated about their own health and their responsibility in this regard.

Secondary Health Care:  SHC is the environment in which small surgical interventions and short admissions into a health care facility are needed to determine initial patient response or to finalise a diagnosis before the patient is transferred (if necessary) to the tertiary level.

Tertiary Health Care:  THC is the environment where specialist services, including rehabilitation, are rendered.

·        Prevention: Prevention is all those protective activities taken to prevent the sources of disease either directly or through a vector, having a negative impact on the health of the would-be patient as a biological system and a thinking mind.

·        Promotion: Promotion is all those educational activities taken to educate, train and develop the would-be patient towards accepting a healthy lifestyle.  This would include the activities of the would-be patient as a partner in prevention.

·        Diagnostics: Diagnostics are all those activities and techniques used by health care professionals (HCPs) to assist patients in arriving at the most relevant diagnosis, when they are confronted by a pathological process.  Diagnostics should also focus on the broader perspective of environmental analysis, epidemiological scanning and disease surveillance.

·        Treatment and cures are all those activities, techniques and interactions needed to bring about and support the process of healing.  The treatment process is aimed at restoring life, limbs, organs and the faculties of the patient to as close to normal as possible.