‘People are going to die’ − Maimane fires NHI Bill warning

With just hours until President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to sign the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, Build One SA leader Mmusi Maimane has warned it may have dire consequences for the country’s health system.

The bill aims to provide free universal healthcare to all South Africans. It has been criticised by some who claim it will collapse the private medical care industry and decline health services in the country.

The bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces late last year. It had been sitting on Ramaphosa‘s desk for several months before the presidency announced its signing would take place on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa finds his pen: President to sign NHI Bill into law

Reacting to the announcement, Maimane said the scheme would lead to deaths.

NHI a ‘capture of medical aid funds’

“People are going to die,” he said, before labelling it a “capture of medical aid funds” that “will lead to worse healthcare for us all”.

He claimed public input would have made little difference to the bill being signed into law.

“I can tell you now that the ANC ignores any members of the public who participate and disagree with what they are planning. This happened with the Electoral Reform, with the BELA bill and even with the NHI. They bus people to events to read scripts and drown out dissent,” he claimed.

Watch President Cyril Ramaphosa share his confidence in SA’s healthcare system and NHI’s success:

[WATCH] President Cyril Ramaphosa: "Our health system does rise to the occasion when we have disasters… I literally saw the NHI at work."#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/1X2NLxMOgQ

— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) January 16, 2024

Corruption incoming?

Action SA joined the chorus of outrage, claiming the idea was a noble one but would be corrupted.

“While the NHI is well-intentioned to address healthcare inequality in South Africa, however, in its current form, it is opening the health system to corruption as we have seen during the Covid pandemic when billions were lost through PPE and related corruption.”

ALSO READ: ‘Hospitals of horror’ report proof ‘NHI is doomed to fail’ – FF+

It called the proposal “ill-conceived” and warned it would not address the shortcomings of the healthcare system in South Africa “but present itself as a third tier in addition to the public and private healthcare”.

“This will open up a loophole to budgetary irregularities that will enable corruption and collapse the healthcare system even further.

“The state has consistently proven unable to manage money or complex systems, and the creation of another healthcare behemoth will therefore do little to address healthcare but instead open up the industry to state capture and abuse.”