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A public sector trade union with over 200 000 members says there are more questions than answers related to the National Health Insurance Scheme, approved recently by Parliament.
The Public Servants Association says while it supports any effort to ensure universal access to healthcare, it says there must be meaningful access to quality service, adequate medical supplies, and clean and fully equipped health facilities, among others.
PSAs Reuban Maleka told Algoa FM News that without these fundamental aspects in place, the NHI is doomed to be a failure.
He says at this point in time, the NHI is not the answer.
“Over years, the country has witnessed a decline in the quality of public services owing to various reasons, including human-capital flight, poor infrastructure maintenance, a lack of accountability, corruption, etc.”
Maleka said the PSA questioned whether the NHI would yield better benefits for public servants and the impact it would have on their disposable income, as many of them are already subscribers to a variety of medical aid schemes.
“The notion that workers could be expected to pay for private medical insurance and the NHI simultaneously induces anxiety amongst public-sector employees,” he said.
Maleka said the priority of health reform in South Africa must be the rehabilitation of the public-health sector.
“This can be best achieved by a competent, non-partisan public-health service, free of corruption and political interference. South Africa’s two-tier healthcare system is not the cause of problems in the sector,” he said.
“The demise of the private-sector system through the introduction of a single purchaser model of the NHI and the imposition of a tax, equivalent to the average medical-aid spend, will also not produce effective management and administration in the public healthcare sector,” Maleka added.
