When President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Health Insurance Bill, he also signed the death warrant for South Africa's health services, giving the ANC permission to loot on such a scale that theft at Eskom looks like shoplifting. It is written that it was John Steenhuisen.
A few years ago, a bedridden friend of mine went to the DA-run Paarl District Hospital in the Western Cape for a double hip replacement. She was deeply impressed by the hospital's cleanliness, professionalism and “5-star service.” She has since been pain free and has returned to her job.
A visit to any public hospital in the Western Cape will show you that despite budget cuts by the ANC central government and all other obstacles, the DA is delivering quality taxpayer-funded health services in the areas we govern. I understand this.
The province has achieved significantly better health outcomes than other provinces, with zero medical malpractice claims, compared to more than R80 billion for the rest of South Africa.
The DA is committed to realizing the constitutional right to quality healthcare for all South Africans. We have an actionable plan to realize this vision. Its essence is to improve the quality of public healthcare while expanding access to private healthcare. This is the fastest and most affordable way to achieve universal health coverage.
switch off life
In contrast, the ANC's National Health Insurance (NHI) plan will destroy the country's health sector and any prospects of fixing it.
President Cyril Ramaphosa knows this. Nevertheless, he signed the national health insurance bill on Wednesday. He may as well have signed the death warrant for South Africa's health services and given the ANC permission to loot Eskom on a scale that made the theft look like shoplifting.
Not content with just turning off South Africa's lights, the ANC is now turning off life as well. This is to keep the patronage water flowing and score cheap political points by manipulating voters into thinking they deserve better health care.
In response, the DA will file a legal challenge and use all means available to fight this betrayal bill all the way to the Constitutional Court.
We appeal to the SA Medical Association, the Healthcare Funders Association, the Healthcare Funders Commission, the SA Healthcare Professional Alliance, Solidarity, Practitioner Forums and any organizations or individuals who wish to raise a legal challenge to this legislation. We invite you to join us in our activities. trial.
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NHI will become a state-owned monopoly, concentrating control of the health budget in the hands of ANC executives who know nothing about health care but are highly skilled at siphoning taxpayers' money.
To get a taste of the feeding frenzy unleashed by the NHI, read about Ramaphosa-appointed Health Minister Zweli Mkhize's R150-million digital vibe scandal during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the R14.8-billion irregular contract with the public. Remember the ruthless plunder of sanitary funds. The procurement of PPE cost taxpayers an additional R350 million due to the SIU investigation.
By nationalizing healthcare, the NHI will destroy South Africa's private healthcare system and thereby thwart any possibility of repairing our public healthcare system. Doctors and nurses will flee our shores as the medical sector collapses and job possibilities disappear. Just this week, nine medical associations representing 25,000 medical professionals declared national health insurance “unviable”.
It is estimated that South Africans' national health insurance costs will increase by at least R200 billion a year, the equivalent of raising VAT to 21.5%, while the tax base shrinks due to capital flight and skills flight. This number will need to be increased further.
Depoliticization and decentralization of management
It will have a devastating effect on the emerging middle class, which has been pulling itself up on its own, but will now be pushed back once again by intolerable tax increases and the confiscation of medical aid contributions.
Nor can it help the 30 million South Africans living in poverty. Because it's not designed to serve them. It was designed to serve ANC elites who fly to Switzerland and Russia to receive private healthcare in true “Champagne Socialist” style.
In sharp contrast to the NHI, the DA's approach to achieving universal access depoliticizes the management of health systems with the aim of improving the quality of public health care while expanding access to private health care. and to decentralize.
The private health sector can play a major role in achieving universal health coverage in South Africa. To significantly improve access to private healthcare, the DA's manifesto commits to introducing a public second insurer in all medical aid schemes.
This preserves the private health insurance market while also achieving the goal of aggregating risks into one larger public insurance fund. This lowers the barriers to entry for new health systems into the market and increases competition, thereby lowering costs and making health systems more affordable to more people.
At the same time as expanding access to private healthcare, we will take steps to significantly improve the quality of public healthcare. These include strengthening governance by replacing executive positions with merit-based appointments and establishing strong accountability frameworks to root out corruption and improve service delivery.
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We will improve the management of public hospitals, clinics and other organizations by giving them autonomy according to an accountability framework. The chief executive of every hospital exercises full authority over all aspects of the hospital, including finance, procurement, human resource planning and implementation, and capital expenditures. They will be supervised by dedicated watchdogs staffed with experts who will be nominated, appointed and removed by independent authorities rather than politicians.
We will improve the quality of public health infrastructure by ensuring that all capital expenditures are funded and managed directly by facility managers rather than the public works department. All revenue collected by a hospital in excess of its budget allocation is retained and managed by the associated hospital and deployed according to the hospital's needs.
We will support the Home Office by including more health professionals in the Home Office, by reforming the internship placement system, and by allocating more funding for medical degrees to support local skills development in the health sector. Increase the number of doctors and nurses in the public health field. The “Scarce Skills” list provides two- to four-year work visas for medical professionals, primarily in rural and well-served areas. The aim is to encourage the migration of doctors and nurses to South Africa by encouraging them to work in areas where they are not.
This is the most direct, smart, and affordable way to provide quality health care to everyone within a system that puts people first, not politicians.
– John Steenhuisen is the leader of the DA's office.
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