The corruption and capture exposed by the Special Investigating Unit at Tembisa Hospital should not be used as a justification to deny South Africans universal health coverage, the health minister insists. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has poured cold water on suggestions that the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme will be vulnerable to State Capture, insisting that structural changes to funding and procurement will safeguard the system. “Nobody accepts what happened in Tembisa Hospital.
We are actually very angry. That is why between me and [the] SIU we have agreed that we must at least regain at least 90% of the money that was lost as a minimum,” he said in an interview with Daily Maverick this week. Motsoaledi acknowledged the failures exposed at Tembisa but argued that the current healthcare system enables abuse because provinces act as both funders and providers.
“At present, why the system is not working is because, as a province, I am a funder and a provider at the same time. It means I fund what I provide. Whether what I provide is nonsense or not, I still fund it,” Motsoaledi said.
Read Full Article on Daily Maverick
[paywall]
He said the NHI would fundamentally change this arrangement by introducing a funder-provider split. “The provinces are going to be providers, the NHI will be funders,” he said. Despite concerns about corruption and capture, Motsoaledi said this should not delay the full implementation of the NHI, arguing that governance failures should not deny South Africans access to universal healthcare.
“You can’t deprive people of NHI or universal health coverage on the basis that we’ve got scoundrels who steal money or corrupt people. “It can’t be fair because you are punishing even innocent people through the actions of others,” he said. In the latestInstitute for Justice and Reconciliation Annual Barometer, published last week, 61% of South Africans either strongly approve of or approve of the NHI.
[/paywall]
