Sasa supports health plan
OPEN letter from the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (Sasa) to Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of health, and Ms Malebona Matsoso, director-general in the national Department of Health. Honourable minister and director-general, Sasa is a professional body representing the interests of 90% of the specialist anaesthesiologists and anaesthetists working in South Africa’s public and private health-care sectors.
We have already reached out to you in private, and would now like to publicly, on behalf of our members, state Sasa’s unequivocal commitment to, and support of, the intentions of the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, being universal access to, and health care for, all our nation.
In this spirit, we are pleased to respond to the invitation from the Department of Health to engage in dialogue.
We would like to explore with you how Sasa can partner with the government to ensure that South Africa’s patients receive the optimal levels of care envisaged by the NHI.
We are acutely aware of the stark inequity that exists when it comes to accessing quality, affordable health care in this country.
We are also faced with a concerning lack of skilled professionals in the health sector that further compounds matters.
For example, South Africa has 1 379 anaesthesiologists working in both private- and public-sector hospitals, but to adequately service our population and patient load, the country needs 1 938 more of these specialists.
This shortage will inevitably have an impact on the standards of patient care. The NHI does not strive for equal access to poor quality care nor does it aim to denigrate the workforce.
We understand and support the intention and would like to collaborate to work towards equal access to high-quality care for all South Africans.
Sasa and its member clinicians view ourselves as allies of the government in the pursuit of quality health care for all.
As such, we are keen to build on our existing cordial relations with your department to explore innovative and effective ways to address this critical skills shortage, which will in turn result in improved surgical outcomes for patients.
A constructive open dialogue between Sasa and the national Department of Health will go a long way towards troubleshooting any problems that may impede the intentions of the planned NHI in the preoperative environment and beyond, and finding workable solutions through collaboration.
We believe, and can detail, tangible, immediate actions that may be taken to provide access to services even within the current environment while further plans are being implemented over time.
Sasa looks forward to your favourable response to our request, as we partner to forge a strong, resilient and successful health-care service in service of all South Africans, our committed health professionals and our country as a whole.