The Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA) has added its objections to the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill to the growing volume of objections from professional medical organisations. In common with them, HASA strongly supports universal health coverage but stands against the NHI Bill in its current form.
Their statement reads: “We believe that approving the Bill without substantive consideration of the many valid and significant recommendations and contributions made by many participants during the Parliamentary hearing is deeply regrettable and a missed opportunity by the Committee.”
Chief among their objections were the potential for corruption and mismanagement in the centralisation of medical funds as well as the many legal objections to the Fund.
Despite serious, credible concerns being raised at every turn, the NHI Bill continues to progress, with Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Health recently giving the Bill its approval on 26 May, moving it forward to debate within the National Assembly. To support healthcare professionals, Quicknews will be running a series of articles discussing the Bill and providing resources to help them take positive action to protect healthcare services for all of their patients. The Gauteng e-toll saga has already shown that ill-conceived and damaging legislation can be brought down if there is sufficient, coordinated public opposition.
With HASA’s statement, three of the largest medical associations in South Africa have now spoken out against the controversial bill. The South African Medical Association (SAMA) and South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF) have both unequivocally stated their opposition to the Bill as it is currently formulated.
In addition to other risks, South Africa faces a potential exodus of healthcare professionals. Indeed, the UK’s National Health Service has for some time been actively poaching nurses and midwives from lower-income countries like South Africa.
HASA urges National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in their deliberations on the Bill “to insist on a multi-payer model to mitigate against the concentration of risk, an iterative rollout based on milestones rather than dates and to pay heed to the nation’s concerns that the proposed National Health Insurance Fund is susceptible to theft and corruption by proposing and approving alternate and appropriate governance structures.”
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Until The central Government Shows’ that it is able to run the State Hospitals efficiently they cannot hope to administer NHI.
The talk ?propaganda by the Secretary of Health is a sick joke. The 8% he thinks he has will not be available and corruption will have a field day!