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.
Amy Green asked the Department of Health and others what happens next following the release of a landmark report into private healthcare in South Africa.
The Office of Health Products Procurement is a new entity introduced in the 2019 version of the NHI Bill. Nkululeko Conco asks what it will mean for procurement under NHI.
Government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill is not the only roadmap to quality healthcare for all in South Africa. The Health Market Inquiry into the private healthcare sector report points the way toward an alternative, possibly more effective, approach.
Government has failed in its duty to regulate the private health sector which is “neither efficient or competitive”, according to the Competition Commission’s report on the Health Market Inquiry (HMI) into the private sector.
Host Nomatter Ndebele chats to RHAP director Russell Rensburg about the major reforms underway in the South African healthcare system.
By Ufrieda Ho – The “bus stop” and the “slaughterhouse” – these are the nicknames locals give for the Nketoane Hospital in Reitz and the Dihlabeng Regional Hospital Bethlehem.
