THE ANC has criticised media reports of its health plan and vowed to continue its efforts. ANC spokesperson Jesse Duarte said the party would transform healthcare in South Africa and would not be deterred by narrow interest groups and individuals bent on undermining the introduction of NHI before its work was made public. She said the ANC had noted with concern media reports attempting to deflect public attention away from the crucial work of the National Health Insurance (NHI) task team. Over the weekend there were a number of reports on health economist Alex van den Heever's presentation to the Hospital Association of SA (Hasa) conference, in which he said that from his knowledge of the NHI, the system was a "completely unworkable, unaffordable solution that would not improve health services despite massive increases in expenditure". Van den Heever said one of the proposals made in the yet-to-be released document, compiled by the ANC task team researching the matter, would increase the health budget by R100-billion, adding that there seemed to be an attempt to avoid debate on the issue. Van den Heever told conference delegates that the documents had been produced, but had not been subjected to external peer review or technical analysis. Duarte said the accusations of critics such as Van den Heever were without substance. She said unsubstantiated claims of an NHI "secret report" and "non consultative" approach of the NHI task team were untrue and only sought to create public confusion. She said the ANC was going through an "internal process" on the NHI policy and would only make public statements once it was concluded. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has attacked this process. DA MP and health spokesperson Mike Waters said as things stood, it appeared that the ANC was trying to force through its implementation by avoiding public debate on the matter. He said that there were no parliamentary health committee meetings scheduled yet to discuss this, adding that there must be more room for public input. Waters accused the ANC of making NHI policy "covered in a cloak of secrecy" and without consulting experts.

SAPA, 8 June 2009