Busa meets with president and officials to discuss NHI Act

After Business Unity South Africa (Busa) refused to sign the Presidential Health Compact last month, the organisation announced on Wednesday that its leadership met with the top government officials on Tuesday.

President, the minister and deputy minister of health and senior officials from the presidency and the department on Tuesday to discuss the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act.

Busa, the South African Medical Association and the South African Health Professionals Collaboration (SAHPC), which represents about 25,000 doctors, all refused to sign the Health Compact in its current form where NHI was mentioned 25 times after unilateral changes to the initial document.

Cas Coovadia, CEO of Busa, then said the current version of the Health Compact does not incorporate its views.

“The draft of the Compact that was shared with Busa promotes the NHI in its current form as the foundation underpinning healthcare reform. Busa does not agree with this, given the serious differences between us and the government about the appropriateness of the NHI Act, let alone its feasibility as a legislative instrument to underpin universal health coverage.”

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa had ‘lengthy discussion’ with Motsoaledi after NHI comments

Busa asked to meet president to discuss negotiations on NHI

Coovadia says his organisation requested the meeting to discuss the possibility of engagement on NHI.

“We publicly indicated over a number of months that we have some issues with certain sections of the NHI Act, although in principle we support an NHI but we have problems with the NHI in its current form.”

Coovadia says they expressed their preference to try and resolve those issues through engagement and yesterday’s meeting between him, Busa’s chairperson and deputy chairperson and the CEO of Netcare, dr. Richard Friedland was “very successful”.

“The president was amenable to engage to see if we can actually find each other and we undertook to give him details of our concerns as well as a possible solution and recommendations that could help solve some of the problems we have raised.

“We remain committed to putting our country on the path to universal health coverage. We believe the NHI is one instrument to achieve that but we also believe we should rather look at healthcare reform and the role of the NHI Act in broader health reform as well as mechanisms to put our country on the path to universal health coverage.”

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa accused of ‘talking nonsense’ over NHI promise

Government’s openness to discuss NHI encouraging

Busa says in a statement it is encouraged by government’s openness to engage on the substantive concerns business raised regarding the NHI Act.

At the President’s request, Busa will prepare a proposal detailing solutions to address its concerns as a basis for further engagement with government. Busa says its primary objective is to render the NHI Act workable, affordable and implementable while advancing universal health coverage and ensuring an equitable healthcare system for all.

Coovaida says businesses, healthcare providers and a wide range of stakeholders have consistently supported the goal of universal health coverage but have raised concerns about the NHI Act’s potential impact on healthcare, taxpayers, the economy and investor confidence.

“Busa remains committed to working with government and stakeholders to shape a solution that serves the best interests of all South Africans through partnership, collaboration and transparent dialogue.”