By Terri-Ann Brouwers.
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has declined to sign the new version of the Presidential Health Compact, citing concerns over the government’s unilateral amendments. According to Busa, these changes have shifted the compact’s original objectives toward directly endorsing the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act, a move made without consulting key stakeholders.
In a statement, the group emphasised that it has long supported the presidential health compact, backing its original goals since its launch in 2018. According to Busa, the goals aimed to foster collaboration between the public and private healthcare sectors and focused on critical projects like improving health infrastructure, enhancing human resource planning, building management capacity, managing medico-legal risks, and ensuring interoperability of health IT systems.
While the health compact’s initial version mentioned the NHI, it was framed as a long-term objective.
Busa believes it has consistently advocated for a collaborative and practical approach to the NHI rather than the current single-fund model, which the organisation believes is unaffordable and unfeasible.
Busa has repeatedly voiced this stance at health summit discussions and in submissions on the NHI White Paper and Bill, offering alternative proposals to achieve policy goals without jeopardising the nation’s finances or burdening taxpayers. These suggestions, Busa states, have been largely ignored.
The group noted that despite these disagreements, it remains committed to the original projects and actions outlined in the first version of the health compact, which aimed to build a stronger and more integrated health system for all South Africans. The organisation expressed disappointment over the compact’s alteration to support an NHI framework that many stakeholders, including Busa, consider impractical.
Busa is calling for urgent, structured engagement with the government on the health compact and the NHI Act. They argue that this dialogue should involve the Presidency, National Treasury, and the Department of Health to ensure that healthcare reform in South Africa can advance without harming the economy or the private healthcare sector’s expertise and resources.