Zimbabwe’s health crisis signals dangers for NHI

Critics of the ANC, citing the slow implosion in our society, say if we want to see where South Africa’s future lies, we need look no further than north of the Limpopo River.

That’s why, with the ANC’s populist National Health Insurance (NHI) looming, it is chilling to read our story today about cancer patients in Zimbabwe turning to traditional healers and herbalists because formal treatment at state hospitals has all but collapsed.

When Agnes Kativhu could not get treatment for breast cancer from Harare’s main public hospital, she checked in to one of the many self-styled herbal clinics opening up across Zimbabwe’s capital.

“I was a moving grave but am now well,” Kativhu told AFP.

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But her next words were filled with sadness and anger: “I never want to go back to the hospital because it broke my heart that they failed to give me a single tablet.”

South Africa’s state health care system is a long way from that sort of failure, but the signs are clear that it is heading in that direction.

The NHI will be a tempting feast for the ANC corrupt cadres to feed on, even as private options are reduced or eliminated.

Will it be long before we’re just like Zimbabwe?

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