The Citizen reports that some 25,000 healthcare professionals will also not sign the Presidential Health Compact, saying it is nothing more than an attempt to lock in support for the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Earlier this week, Business Unity SA (Busa) and the SA Medical Association (Sama) indicated that they would not sign the current version of the compact. The SA Health Professionals Collaboration (SAHPC), a national group of nine medical, dental and allied healthcare practitioners’ associations representing more than 25,000 private and public sector healthcare workers, indicated on Thursday that it would not be signing the compact. Simon Strachan, SAHPC spokesperson, said that while the SAHPC acknowledged that health reforms were necessary to address the challenges in the country’s healthcare system, it believed the way that the compact had been written was fundamentally biased towards solidifying support for the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act as the sole solution to achieving universal health coverage. “Our primary concern is and always will be the well-being of patients. We do not believe that the NHI is a viable or workable model for achieving universal health coverage. Our numerous proposals and concerns have not been acknowledged,” he indicated. Strachan said what was needed was urgent formal engagement with the President on the NHI and ways of achieving universal health coverage to ensure health reform was fit for purpose and truly benefited patients, the economy and the country. “It is important that health reforms are developed in partnership with all those that are mandated to deliver this critical service,” he argued.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ina Opperman at The Citizen
- Lees ook, Duisende in gesondheidsbedryf gee president se verdrag ook koue skouer, by Maroela Media
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page