Filling health posts key in NHI roll-out
THE public health system needed to function properly if the national health insurance (NHI) programme was to be rolled out successfully, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said.
Mboweni, delivering his Budget speech yesterday, said public health needed simple and effective interventions.
“We need more doctors and nurses,” he said.
Mboweni used his address before Parliament to announce more allocations towards the NHI programme, he said R2.8 billion had been allocated to a new human resources grant to fill critical posts and another R1bn for medical interns.
“R1bn has been added to raise the wages of community health care workers to R2500 per month,” Mboweni said.
National Treasury’s budget document states that the R2.4bn allocated over the medium-term would fund initiatives that strengthen health systems, including health information systems, ideal clinics and centralised dispensing and distribution of chronic medicines.
“This will enable the department to, by 2020-21, implement an improved web-based health information system targeting 3702 health facilities…” reads the document.
It also said that due to slow spending in the personal services component of the grant, R2.8bn had been prioritised to enable provincial departments to fill critical posts in health facilities.
Fielding media questions on NHI at a press briefing before the budget speech, National Treasury director-general, Dondo Mogajane said some of the challenges for the NHI have been where its funding came from and the conditions for its success.
Mogajane said there were a number of factors to be looked into, including the Equitable Share in particular.
“Existing money will be diverted into the NHI programme once it is rolled out,” Mogajane said.
Mogajane put the baseline for the NHI programme in the medium-term expenditure framework at R4.3bn.
Also speaking at the media briefing, Mboweni insisted that the priority for public health services was to ensure that it functioned properly.
This, in Mboweni’s view, entailed ensuring linen was washed, doctors were in their posts and nurses were on duty.