Industry News

Public Health Issues a Top Priority

12 June 2008

In Categories: Industry News

On the eve of the Hospital Association of South Africa’s (Hasa’s) annual conference in Somerset West, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for finance, Dr Zweli Mkhize, told delegates that one of the key decisions taken at the ruling party’s conference in Polokwane last December was to elevate health issues to a level of high priority.

Mkhize said transformation of the health sector was a priority focus area which has dominated debates in the private and public sectors.  He said one of the significant Polokwane resolutions was the decision to urgently implement National Health Insurance (NHI). The need to ensure the improvement of the quality of service available from the public sector was at the core of the NHI he said. “The issue is no longer whether the NHI will be implemented, but rather when and how.”

“There is no doubt that government has to inject massive funding into the health sector. There is a need for major investment into the infrastructure, equipment and skills in the public health service,” he added.

Mkhize told the audience that the country’s human resource strategy should be revamped as a matter of urgency in order to produce enough skills and expertise to “overshadow the exodus”. He said it is ironic that South Africa is dependent on foreign professionals and experts given the relative availability of access to financial resources, academic institutions of international repute and a large reservoir of people eager to be delivered out of the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

Mkhize also said it is important to understand that there is a role for both the private and public sectors. However, the high cost of private healthcare and the fact that it was becoming increasingly reserved for fewer and fewer people was of concern.

In 1996, the private sector serviced about 20% of the population compared with an estimated 11-15% today, yet it accounted for more than 50% of total health expenditure. Further distortion of these figures needs to be avoided, he said, adding that regulation of medical schemes was inevitable.

“However, massive public sector investment is also essential in the correction of health expenditure figures. It is clear that this relationship will only stabilise as the entire system matures to cater for the health of our people with a degree of equity not yet seen today.

“There is a need for the private sector to address the issue of spiraling medical scheme premiums, declining membership of medical schemes, the tendency towards over-servicing and the profit motive that sees some individuals committing unethical acts which bring disrepute to the profession and health services in general.

“Despite these issues, it is inevitable that the private sector will have to come on board and contribute to the general improvement of the health of the nation. This matter must be elevated beyond the limits of self-interest and viewed in context of the fact that the skewed distribution of resources in favour of the well-resourced population distorts the overall performance of South Africa as a country.

“Many countries with less abundant resources have achieved relatively better outcomes than our country. The levels of inequality in health outcomes cannot be allowed to persist in the new democracy,” concluded Mkhize.