Slindile Khanyile: Business Report,

TWO bills that will shake up the health sector have been approved by the cabinet after revisions that took account of public submissions. The National Health Amendment Bill and the Medicines Control Bill will go to the state attorney before being tabled in parliament next Monday. The cabinet approved the laws, which will introduce drastic changes in the private healthcare sector, at its meeting on Wednesday. Sibani Mngadi, the Health Department spokesperson, confirmed that alterations had been made to the bills after the public comments were received.
Mngadi would not disclose the details of the adjustments, saying that they would be in the public domain next week when the revised bills would be published in a special gazette. The National Health Amendment Bill regulates the determination of tariffs for private hospitals and doctors. The draft bill said Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Health Minister, would appoint a facilitator to convene annual negotiations between service providers and medical funders on pricing of health services and fee schedules. Should the negotiations not be completed at facilitator level, they would be taken to a tribunal. The Minister could ask the parties to re-negotiate if she was not satisfied with certain schedules. The Medicines and Related Substances Bill is aimed at improving the regulation of clinical trials and the approval of medicines. The draft bill said the Medicines Control Council and the pricing committee would be abolished, and a new regulatory authority would be established. This regulator would be held accountable for any delays in registration of medicines or approval of clinical trials. Role players have criticised the amendments and complained that the month allocated for comments was too short. Mngadi said the parliamentary process would give stakeholders another opportunity to be heard because public hearings would be held by the portfolio committee on health. Thirty submissions were made on the medicines bill and 25 on the fee regulation bill. Kurt Worrall-Clare, the chief executive of the Hospital Association of SA, said the body was not surprised that the cabinet had given the bills the go-ahead because it had already approved the fundamentals of the proposals. He said that if concerns remained, Hasa would petition the portfolio committee during the public hearings. Hasa would also use its meeting with the Minister on June 3 to address concerns. Medi-Clinic, Innovative Medicines SA and the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of SA said they would comment once they had seen the modified draft bills