Is NHI the medicine our health sector needs?

The old saying that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” does not apply to SA’s looming National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme which, aims to bring a new era of free, universal health care to all citizens. It doesn’t apply because the most blinkered person must admit our health system is in terminal decline.

We have a government sector that cannot cope with the demands on it and where the cash thrown at it over the years doesn’t seem to be having much impact.

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At the same time, we have a private sector which supposedly offers state-of-the-art care, but which can almost bankrupt even those who pay for medical aid. Something needs to be done – that cannot be denied. But is NHI the medicine our health sector needs?

As we report today, this enormously expensive social engineering project will end up costing taxpayers more – through increased taxation (either direct for individuals or through increased VAT) and “double billing”, because some people would still have to maintain some medical aid coverage.

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Given that government intends to control the system, it is likely your general practitioner will have to see more patients a day to make ends meet, because they will be paid less. So, you will wait longer. And the delays in surgical procedures will be longer than they currently are – at least in the private sector.

Finally, many medical professionals are going, or planning to go, to what they believe will be greener pastures overseas.

And those negatives only relate to the likely outcome of the NHI changes.

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If the scheme becomes another Eskom – a venue for looting by connected comrades – there could be a collapse of both state and private sectors, which will make today’s situation look like “the good old days”.