Durban — Health and social security systems specialist Professor Alex van den Heever says the discussion about the National Health Insurance (NHI) was a diversion from the actual reform required from public and private health systems.
It created the impression that the government was doing something, when in fact very little was being done. Moreover, he said more parts of the health system were being constantly degraded.
Van den Heever said this in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, after President Cyril Ramaphosa said at the weekend that the government was going ahead with the NHI to ensure that every citizen received quality health services, correct diagnosis and free treatment at the point of care.
Ramaphosa told the second Presidential Health Summit that resources would need to be pooled to provide access to quality health care for all, starting with government-funded health services that have had a massive budget reduction in the past few years.
The NHI is designed to pool funds to provide access to quality, affordable health services for all South Africans based on their health needs, irrespective of their socio-economic status.
Van den Heever said it was unclear whether the true priorities of the health system were being addressed.
“What the president said was just a political speech, making promises on reforms, when in fact nothing is happening on the ground.”
The Health Department said it was not collapsing but public health care was underfunded.
“It is just dealing with a huge burden of disease and a very huge population compared with private health care, which is over-subsidised but has very few people to deal with.”
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