By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, has described the passing of the Insurance (NHI) Bill in the National Assembly on Tuesday as a “historic” moment.
This comes after 205 Members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the NHI Bill and 125 voted against it.
This means the Bill will now be submitted to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), paving the way for government to forge ahead with Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
However Trade Union Solidarity, says it is already getting ready for a major court case against the government’s plans for NHI – adding that its comments on the proposed law already took the form of legal documents, and it has instructed its legal team to prepare for a court case.
“We realised from the outset that the NHI would probably be tested in court. The government’s plans to capture healthcare are unaffordable and unimplementable. It will lead to a mass exodus of health practitioners from the country,” Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann said.
Solidarity has participated in all the public participation processes and has already achieved several victories against the NHI in court.
The Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) has also undertaken comprehensive research in the medical sector, showing that the NHI’s adoption and implementation will lead to a massive exodus of medical professionals from the country.
“The government has already failed with the public healthcare system, and it now wants to fail on an even bigger scale,” Hermann said.
“It has a history of failure regarding state enterprises, and there is no reason to believe the proposed NHI would not be to the severe detriment of South Africans.
“We cannot trust the government, and we cannot deliver our medical professionals to them and trust our health to their hand. This is going to be a major court battle,” Hermann added.
Phaahla said the government considered the passing of the NHI Bill by the National Assembly as a key milestone to ensure all the people of South Africa have access to the same clinic or hospital (either public or private), closer to where they live or work, without paying; the government will pay.
“We are convinced that the NHI is the vehicle suitable to drive our health reform programme and is capable of delivering the desired result to ensure those who are deprived of improved-quality health care have access too. The NHI is a fund from which the government will buy health-care services for South Africans from health-care providers both in the public and private sectors,” said the minister.
Phaahla said it was a fund to pay for health care and everyone would contribute to this fund through taxes and special contributions in line with what they could afford.
“It will ensure that everyone is entitled to free health care when they need it, and there will be no fees charged at the facility because the fund will cover the costs of care,” he said.