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Officials confirm that the NHI will be introduced in phases, with room for private sector collaboration to ensure improved healthcare access for all South Africans.
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Top government officials have assured those who fear the National Health Insurance (NHI) to rather engage with it and exploit the abundant opportunities that would emerge from the programme.
The officials said rather than panic, private sector members should know that the government had no plan to squeeze them out of the health care system.
Instead, the NHI programme is intended to ensure access to quality health care for everyone and to open collaboration opportunities that the private sector should capitalise on.
Both Dr Mark Blecher, chief director for health and social development at National Treasury and department of health’s deputy director-general of health regulation and compliance, Dr Anban Pillay agreed about potential for collaboration opportunities within the NHI once it was implemented.
NHI is South Africa’s strategy to achieve universal health coverage for all citizens, regardless of their economic status.
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Similar schemes have been implemented in at least 95 countries, including developed economies such as the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, Norway, Denmark and France.
The department said that the desired outcome for implementing NHI was for all people to have access to a full range of quality health care services without experiencing financial hardship.
Blecher, who was addressing a round-table discussion organised by European Union Chamber of Commerce and the Innovative Pharmaceutical.
The SA Medical Association in Pretoria on Wednesday said there was widespread concern among private health care providers and funders that NHI was designed to keep them out of the system.
“It is very unlikely, it is not easy to do that. Private financing of health care is very important to us,” Blecher said.
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“NHI will be implemented gradually and in phases in consideration to the budget. The evolution of the NHI will be gradual. It will increase spending, which will be good for the pharmaceutical sector,” he said.
Pillay said there would be a lot of benefits accruing from NHI.
“Whatever the outcome of the deliberations is an opportunity for people to engage collaboratively with the process because it is a work in progress,” Pillay said.
The NHI implementation will take longer to happen but it would come, depending on budgets and economic growth, he said.
The gathering was attended by government officials, representatives from private health care, medical schemes and health care advocacy groups.
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The round-table was described as one of many to come and was an attempt to learn more about the NHI implementation, innovation around it and possible collaborations.
The NHI Act was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 15 May, 2024, exactly a fortnight before the May elections.
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