Nothing glamorous about NHI

THE ARTICLE by the Minister of Health in The Star of July 6 refers.

The minister makes the NHI (National Health Insurance) sound so glamorous and packages it in rose-coloured paper. What is happening in reality is that the ANC government has neglected public healthcare and its amenities like all of its other basic services to the tax-paying public, to wit, education, policing, municipal services to mention a few, and now wants to hijack the private sector under the guise of providing “equal” affordable healthcare to all.

The private health sector has invested in numerous hospitals while the government has sat on its hands and allowed the public health system to run into the ground. Every day one reads of the absolute pathetic problems in the various provincial health departments. When put on the spot regarding the oncology crisis in KZN, the MEC for Health said on national TV: “I am not responsible for repairing machines…”

What a sick joke! People are dying because of incompetence and poor attitudes like his.

Never mind the graft and corruption in the departments. And why should the private health industry not make profits for its investors and shareholders who invested their capital for a return on investment? So now the tax-paying public will get a double whammy. Pay your tax to keep the inefficient and poorly run public health system limping along AND pay a compulsory “insurance” to fund the treatment of all and sundry.

Who will administer this grand NHI scheme? Another hapless money-wasting government department staffed by unqualified “comrades” or deployees? Sorry… not for me.

Just as the broken Health Department caused a proliferation of private hospitals, the dumbed down Education Department is encouraging the growth of private schools and universities. Watch this space … the next move will be some grand scheme to promote and “Education Insurance” which will hijack the private education system too. Sunward Park