Minister explains NHI plan
The private sector, which services 26% of the population, utilises 66% of the specialists in the country
HEALTH Minister Zweli Mkhize met with government officials, health practitioners and other guests in Pietermaritzburg on Friday to clarify issues related to the roll out of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Mkhize said the Bill, which was recently tabled in Parliament, faced several challenges, but under the NHI, quality, equitable healthcare would be available to all South Africans, foreign nationals and asylum seekers. He said it would be an individual’s condition, and not the person’s pocket, which would determine where treatment was received.
“The idea is to create a fund that will have contributions from right across sectors. The current allocation that the government is putting into health will obviously go in. To pull the funds up, general taxes and specific contributions which could be surcharges from various other areas like tobacco and cigarettes could be added, but that will be a determination the Treasury makes at the right time,” he said.
The minister said once the fund was established, an oversight body to ensure transparency would be formed and would allow complaints and concerns to be raised with it.
Law enforcement units, together with civil society bodies, would oversee some of the operations using highend technology to prevent corruption. A board would also be appointed based on various skills needed, but this would not be done by the minister.
Mkhize said that several committees consisting of specialists from various disciplines would be formed to ensure the smooth running of the system.
“The first is the health services beneficiary committee which will look at what the NHI will offer, what we pay for, and what we do not. We do not have a package as we speak, and we will only have it once the committee has been formed, in terms of the law. However, we have teams of various specialists putting together protocols,” said Mkhize.
The second committee was the pricing committee which would determine what was paid for in various procedures and services.
Mkhize said the current state of the country’s economy created doubt over the affordability and cost implications of the NHI, but the focus should rather be on the creation of a healthy workforce through the system.
“An issue always raised with us is that the economy is doing very badly, can we afford this? Most countries began the NHI process in a worse off economy compared to South Africa. The mistake we always make is that we put the issue of expenditure and health as a cost instead of understanding that there is a benefit in treating and creating a healthier population and that has a direct effect on the GDP of any country,” said Mkhize.
“Medical aids role will be complimentary. What the NHI will not cover will be covered by medical aid. We will only know once we have that package what is excluded and what is not, and that process will be unfolding as we move along.”
Mkhize said the private sector, which serviced 26% of the population, utilised 66% of the specialists and the NHI sought to have their services shared by the entire population.
“We are looking at how private general practitioners will be brought to be part of the primary healthcare network.”
He said they were already at advanced discussions with the private practitioner medical associations.
KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-zulu said the meeting was the first of its kind and that more engagements would be held across the province.
She said the province did not have sufficient funds which impacted on the department as a whole.
“The discussions I want us to have is how do we get the private sector and the doctors in the private sector to partner with government and how do we work together and try and address the challenges,” she said.