Amid loud concerns from opposition parties, medical bodies, doctors and activists, health minister Joe Phaahla has said corruption and maladministration will not hamper the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme once implemented.
This week, the National Assembly passed the NHI Bill. Although not making the ambitious – and controversial – scheme law, this was a step towards the roll out of universal healthcare in South Africa. The Bill must now be approved by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) before landing on the president’s desk.
“We all know we’re heading for failure. It’s exactly the same as two trains heading for a head-on collision. It will be another ANC failure. Implementation is their biggest struggle. We are going to waste another R8.8 billion in the next three years,” said community activist Ismail van Wyk.
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Concerns of mismanagement
Addressing the media, health minister Joe Phaahla sought to allay concerns about corruption and mismanagement creeping into the implementation of the NHI. He said although there were instances of corruption in the past, there were also good stories to tell.
“There’s also good examples. There are a number of good examples of well-functioning institutions, despite the pressure under which they function but are managing to the best of their ability,” he said.
Phaahla said it would be important to address the concerns of those opposed to the scheme. He also took a swipe at opposition parties for ‘hijacking’ legitimate concerns.
“We do understand there will be some genuine South Africans who will be sceptical and we understand that those who oppose interventions such as the NHI take advantage of some of those legitimate concerns, in terms of the capacity of the state, in terms of implementing a number of projects, running a number of institutions. It’s not something we can wish away; we must make sure that those things get fixed,” said the minister.
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Opposition to NHI
Meanwhile, political parties who voted against the NHI Bill in parliament were concerned about the feasibility of implementation. Leading the pack was the Democratic Alliance (DA), which said there were too many “pitfalls” that could prevent implementation.
DA MP Michéle Clarke said, “There’s been absolutely no feasibility study ever presented to the committee, even after repeated requests at every meeting, no financial model has been given to us in terms of this bill”.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), for its part, deemed it a “catastrophic development in the midst of the ongoing collapse of the public health sector”. They said although it represented genuine aspirations of addressing inequality, it fell short.
“In its true form, the NHI is an overt admittance by the ANC government of failing to build a working health system for our people. They have thus resolved to outsource healthcare and our people’s well-being to the private sector,” said the party’s spokesperson Sinawo Thambo in a statement.
Julie Allie spoke to community activist Ismail van Wyk about the passing of the NHI Bill in the National Assembly. Listen to the full discussion here.
