Minister seeks new powers on notifiable diseases

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has flighted far-reaching proposals to change the National Health Act’s regulations on notifiable diseases, which would give him the power to implement the kind of stringent restrictions imposed by the government in response to the coronavirus pandemic in terms of the Disaster Management Act for any disease deemed to be a major threat to public health. In what a Business Day report says is an unusual move, Mkhize briefed Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health on the proposed amendments to the regulations last week. Parliament is not legally required to approve regulations. The proposals were tabled at the National Health Council, and consultations were planned with other government departments, ahead of taking the proposal to the Cabinet, he said. The intention is to create an alternative legal instrument to the regulations now in force under the State of Disaster declared in terms of the Disaster Management Act, which is overseen by the Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs, said the Minister’s chief of staff, Sibusisiwe Ngubane. Ngubane emphasised that the proposed changes to the regulations include a requirement that the Health Minister consult the relevant Ministers of the portfolios affected by measures, such as closing schools or restricting travel, imposed in an effort to contain a disease outbreak, such as Covid-19. The proposed amendments give the Minister power to order the complete or partial closure of schools and teaching institutions, ban public gatherings, limit travel and order people to be placed in quarantine, she said.