Socioeconomic Development iii. Recommendations 910. The APR Panel recommends that the government: • • • • Chapter 6 Develops and implements a targeted poverty eradication policy based on assistance in cash and kind intended for households or persons identified as ‘poor’. [Government] Organises a national consultation, together with the unions and the private sector, about the ways and means of ensuring sustainable social benefits that are more effective and more efficient against unemployment and old age risks. [Government] Develops and implements a wage policy based on a fair distribution of the fruits of growth. [Government] Initiates dialogue with the trade unions and the private sector in order to develop a new social model that balances the competitiveness (flexibility) of enterprises with the security of employees and their right to decent work. [Government] Chapter 6 This is close to an average increase of 10 years in life expectancy since independence. The infant mortality rate (the number of deaths of children aged younger than one year old per 100 births) fell from 27.3 in 1986 to 14.1 in 2006. Public health sector 912. Medical consultations and care are free in all hospitals and health centres. The healthcare system is organised into three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary level provides basic health care and is organised around a network of health centres, medical clinics, dental clinics and the external consulting services of hospitals. The present network comprises two medical clinics, 23 regional health centres and 103 community health centres. 913. The secondary level consists of district and regional healthcare services, two district hospitals and five regional hospitals. They provide primary health care and emergency services. They also supervise satellite and community regional health centres. The services they provide cover accidents and emergencies, general medicine, general and specialised surgery, gynaecology and obstetrical services, orthopaedics and traumatology, paediatrics and intensive care. 914. The tertiary level provides high-technology health care. It comprises four specialised hospitals, with a total capacity of 980 beds (including 803 beds at the psychiatric hospital), and a cardiography centre in a 53-bed institute offering multidisciplinary specialised services in heart surgery, invasive cardiology and neurosurgery. The APR Panel recommends that the trade unions and the private sector begin frank dialogue and make clear commitments to: • • • A social compromise that facilitates the successful integration of Mauritius into the world economy and balances competitiveness (flexibility) with the security of employees and their right to decent work. [Government] An annual review of salaries based on a fair sharing of the fruits of growth. [Government] A reform of the social protection system that is focused on efficient coverage of unemployment and old age risks and a distribution that facilitates the sustainability of this coverage. [Government] Objective 3: i. Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outcomes in key social development areas, including education for all, and HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases Summary of the CSAR Health 911. 314 The greatest achievements of the Mauritian health system include improving life expectancy, child and maternal health, control of infectious diseases, as well as the population control programme. Life expectancy at birth for the entire population is currently 72.7 years. Socioeconomic Development Private health sector 915. The private sector plays an important role in the health services. There are two types of private health services: (i) private clinics for dental care and private clinics with beds for admission; and (ii) facilities for tests, consultations and diagnosis – mainly radiology and clinical pathology – as well as operating and child-delivery theatres. There are currently 13 clinics with hospital services that, apart from kidney dialysis, perform heart surgery and other services. 315