THE proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) has been veiled in secrecy, drawing criticism from academic and medical stakeholders who say government has failed to keep up with deadlines.
Crafted by the ANC and handed over to government two years ago, the NHI intends to ensure universal accessibility to affordable and high quality healthcare for all South Africans.
The process, meant to further strengthen the public healthcare system and ensure adequate provision of funding, was to have been tabled in Cabinet by March this year and brought into the public domain soon afterwards .
“But none of this has happened and no one knows where the process is right now,” Western Cape health economist Samson Mkhokheli said.
He said the absence of information such as scenario planning, cost-benefit analyses, funding proposals, sustainability and viability had caused a great deal of unhappiness, doubt, suspicion and mistrust, which had led to industry players losing confidence in the proposal.
The proposed scheme intends to combine the public and private health sectors.
Research commissioned by the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa) and carried out by the Econex consultancy group, shows that government would have to come up with an extra R165 billion to R244 billion a year – over and above what it already spends on public health.
But national Department of Health spokesperson Fidel Radebe rejected the figures, saying there was no NHI model to cost from yet.
“We have not gotten to the budgeting stage yet, and we do not know what the projections are based on.”
Opposition parties have also come out strongly in criticism against the NHI and the secrecy around it, blaming government for strategically planning to neglect the existing public health system in favour of a system that had no clear plan.
Provincial Congress of the People (Cope) health spokesperson Nkosinathi Kuluta said their concern was that there was no information to assure them that government had the capacity to implement the NHI, given the current state of the public health system.
The Democratic Alliance has said: “Government’s rush-job approach will not only do the NHI debate a grave disservice, but also has the real potential to plunge the South African healthcare system into even further crisis.”
The party’s shadow Health Minister Mike Waters said government should take a step back and listen carefully, not only to the industry players but also to the very people who would ultimately pay for and utilise the system.
But Radebe said the process was in progress, and a policy document already existed.
“There was a slight delay when the Cabinet commissions queried some aspects of the document submitted to them by the NHI ministerial advisory committee.
“Once they are satisfied it will go to the full Cabinet, then to the public for consultation,” he said.
The 25-man committee, comprising individuals with a cross-section of skills and expertise relevant to the NHI policy, was sworn to secrecy around the processes on the NHI.
Cosatu national spokesperson Patrick Craven said these processes, by their nature, should be public knowledge.
“We keep raising the issue of the lack of information , and this gives us the impression that if there is any progress then it is very slow.”
While Hasa said they were unable to comment as they had not seen the blueprint, South African Medical Association chairperson Dr Norman Mabasa said until that blueprint was available, there was no need for panic.
“No details have been released. People should wait for information to come out before they start worrying.” — By NTANDO MAKHUBU
Source - dispatch.co.za
-Health Reporter
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