DEPUTY Health Minister Molefe Sefularo has assured private hospitals that they are seen as a national asset that can be relied on for world-class healthcare.
He said their assistance - along with that of others in private healthcare - would be sought in any plans to make healthcare in the country more accessible and equitable to all.
In an address to the Hospital Association of SA conference this week, Sefularo referred to media reports about alarm at the introduction of a national health insurance (NHI) system.
Molefe gave an assurance that the process of planning and introducing a NHI would be transparent and stakeholders, as well as the public, would be drawn into the process, listened to, and would contribute in the form of public-private partnerships.
Making frequent references to President Jacob Zuma's state of the nation address earlier this week, in which the threat of an imminent and cataclysmic change to the national health system was dampened down, Molefe said the draft white paper with proposed legislation would be released near the end of this month. It would signal the beginning of the consultative process. The planned NHI was a tool towards universal coverage and better care for all in one united healthcare system for the country, he said. He said the NHI was seen as the funding mechanism to be used to fulfil these aims. This would be funded in part by tax revenue, but would require resources to come from elsewhere.
It is clear that the other sources of revenue are intended to come from a payroll tax on employees and employers, with a major portion of medical scheme funds to be paid over to the NHI to fund the R200-billion needed in the envisaged new body. The plan would force members to use state health facilities or pay for private health from their own pockets and prohibit schemes from providing insurance for private hospitals as part of the benefit plans.
Aiming a shot across the bows of medical scheme administrators and private medical practitioners, he said the present system contributed to the increasing of administration costs, contributed to the continuing cost escalation of "hotel services" within private hospitals, and encouraged the over-servicing by healthcare practitioners and specialists within the private hospital environment.
The Business Times, 7 June 2009
