Expert weighs in on National Health Insurance bill
NHI seeks to achieve this by ensuring that no one is deprived of their right because of their socio-economic status.
Arwyp Medical Centre CEO Dr Zecharai A Esterhuizen has high hopes for South Africa’s National Health Insurance bill.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the NHI Bill on May 15 and according to the presidency, the objective of the NHI Bill is to provide universal access to quality healthcare for all South Africans, as enshrined in the Constitution.
The presidency stated that the Constitution recognises healthcare as a fundamental human right.
NHI seeks to achieve this by ensuring that no one is deprived of their right because of their socio-economic status.
Through the NHI, one public health fund will be created to ensure adequate resources are available to plan for and effectively meet the health needs of the entire population with the ultimate goal of achieving universal health coverage.
The issue has been contentious since it was announced.
Esterhuizen, however, believes that NHI could be a good thing.
“From our perspective as a private hospital, we believe everyone has a right to universal health coverage. Between the private sector, the public sector and the national government, we can ensure that it is implemented to the benefit of everyone,” he said.
Esterhuizen said that his only concern with the NHI is the uncertainty of how certain things will be implemented.
“There is no clarity about how certain things will be brought about. We are cautious and watching developments carefully.
“We want to understand how the government aims to achieve some of the objectives,” he said.
“Other than that, we are positive that it is something that will be of benefit to everyone.”
Esterhuizen said Arwyp had picked up pointers from the NHI that addressed aspects of medical treatment, including outcome measures.
“NHI strongly focuses on the good or bad outcomes of what we’re doing within the hospital.”
Additionally, he added that there was a need for private medical institutions to be more efficient.
He said that Arwyp’s stakeholders are of utmost importance to the institution.
“Our patients are important to us, and we will continue to focus on providing them with as much information as possible. We would like all our patients to be able to make informed decisions about their stay in the hospital.”
Esterhuizen said that Arwyp Hospital supports the NHI fully.
“We are already starting to work on our internal processes while we await further guidance from the government.”
