BusinessLive reports that health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Monday that National Health Insurance (NHI) would be rolled out in a manner that was affordable and that it would not pose the kinds of risks to the economy that state-owned power utility Eskom has done.
NHI is the government’s policy for achieving universal health coverage. Its first piece of enabling legislation was tabled in parliament on 8 August, paving the way for the establishment of a central NHI fund that will purchase healthcare services on behalf of patients, which will be provided free at the point of care. The minister said that unlike an entity like Eskom, the NHI fund would not have the power to take risks and engage in raising debts and other speculative financial transactions. “The entity will receive funds from the fiscus and apply the funds to the defined mandate,” the minister told delegates to the annual Hospital Association of Southern Africa (Hasa) conference. Mkhize assured his audience that the NHI fund would be protected from corruption.
- Read the full original of the above report by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page