Residents of the OR Tambo District in the Eastern Cape were mostly in favour of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill at a public hearing in Mthatha, but raised questions on how it will solve problems in the Eastern Cape’s ailing health system, especially in rural areas.
If all goes according to plan the NHI Bill may just be on the President’s desk to be signed into law by July or August next year, according to portfolio committee chair Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
The parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health has wrapped-up the KwaZulu-Natal leg of its public hearings on the NHI Bill. While there was broad support for the Bill, a few people did express reservations.
ANC veteran Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo is chairperson of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Health and will play a pivotal role in deliberations over the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill. The question is – will it be about serving the people or toeing the party-line?
Tshifhiwa Mukwevho reports from the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health’s NHI hearing in Makwarela, Limpopo.
Siviwe Gwarube is not only one of the Democratic Alliance’s upcoming stars, she is also one of the key people on parliament’s health committee who will soon consider the NHI Bill. Biénne Huisman went to meet her.
The public hearings into government’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill had a rocky start in Mpumalanga recently as civil society organisations and some opposition parties slammed the process.
NHI is to be implemented in a context of dismal economic fundamentals, but there is nevertheless considerable reason for hope, writes leading health economist Susan Cleary.
The latest version of the NHI Bill proposes limited access to health care services for population groups such as asylum seekers and undocumented migrants with serious implications for universal health coverage.
Some key questions about NHI have crystallised in recent months. Spotlight put 12 of these questions to Nicholas Crisp, head of government’s NHI office.
As a strategic purchaser the NHI should be expressly pro-public sector and strategically focus on building capacity in under resourced areas such as clinics and hospitals in poorer urban communities and in rural facilities, writes Dr Lydia Cairncross.
The focus of NHI needs to shift from talking about fixing the public service first, to saving money first and especially in the private sector, argues John Ashmore.
