Health plan gets private sector nod

Chief executives offer support in kicking off NHI project

SEVERAL of South Africa’s chief executives in the private healthcare sector say they are ready to engage in implementing National Health Insurance (NHI) projects and programmes that will make a difference in people’s lives.

They were part of a panel discussion during the Hospital Association of South Africa conference at the Cape Town International Centre.

During the discussion, the adviser on the NHI, Vishal Brijlal, outlined the scheme’s priorities as maternal health, the screening and treatment of paediatric cancer, school health, and care for the elderly and the disabled, along with mental health screening.

He said having a policy was not sufficient and it needed planning, implementation and cooperation.

“We will not just wake up one morning and there will be universal healthcare,” he said.

Mediclinic Southern Africa chief executive Koert Pretorius said the private sector could offer its spare capacity to the public sector and could offer to treat a percentage of prioritised cases at a lower cost.

He also suggested that hospitals in the private sector could focus their attention on rural areas, in schools, and support or manage some primary healthcare clinics.

He said research done among a sample of people earning R6 400 to R16 000 a month showed that they had a high incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, and were willing to pay up to R350 a month for primary healthcare.

He said this group of people could be covered for between 45 and 50 conditions at this payment, which could represent 85% of basic healthcare needs.

Netcare Group chief executive Dr Richard Friedland said all efforts to build a sustainable society would stumble without a strong and sustainable healthcare system.

He said the South African system was incredibly unequal and the hospitals had much to learn from their international counterparts.

As an example, Friedland cited the case study of Netcare’s United Kingdom group reducing cataract treatments from more than a day to mere hours, using mobile clinics and doctors with deep experience in this procedure.

Discovery Health chief executive Dr Jonathan Broomberg noted that the basic principle of universal healthcare was access to healthcare of decent quality, and that this right was being denied to many South Africans.

“There are literally hundreds of variations of universal healthcare and each system has to evolve to address current realities in the country where the system is being implemented.

“The danger is we continue to have theoretical debates and do not do what we need to do.

“We are out of time and cannot afford to lose this opportunity,” he said.

The danger is we continue to have theoretical debates and do not do what we need to do