ANC Today speaks about the NHI
The latest volume of ANC Today explains the NHI and tries to resolve speculation raised during recent debates
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The ANC recently clarified some confusion relating to the proposed
scheme for national insurance which was made during President Jacob Zuma's State
of the Nation address. The clarification regarding the NHI appeared on
the ANC's website.
During the speech, President Zuma stated that the government would
introduce a National Health Insurance scheme over the next few years, in a
phased manner. He also stated that the first step before implementing the NHI
would be to rehabilitate South Africa's hospitals, which is urgently required.
The topic of the introduction of a national health scheme was in
the planning stage for a number of years. Already at the ANC's 2007 National
Conference it was resolved that there would be an "implementation of the
National Health Insurance System by further strengthening the public health care
system and ensuring adequate provision of funding."
The aim of the NHI is to balance health care within the country,
the ANC explained. The public health system is suffering from a great under
funding which has lead to the "deterioration in the conditions of the state
facilities, decline in the quality of care and exodus of skilled personnel."
The ANC explained that the formerly "whites only" hospitals always
had better facilities and the "blacks only" hospitals were under funded. Due to
the current situation in public hospitals, many are looking for private health
care, which has become unaffordable to most South Africans.
The NHI's plan is to "create a mechanism to level the playing field
and create equitable distribution of resources resulting in high quality of
health services for all the people."
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