NEHAWU SUPPORTS THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE {NHI}
NEHAWU offers its full support to the government's endeavor to introduce the National Health Insurance {NHI} scheme and we view this as a sign that the new administration is committed to honouring the promises made to the electorate by the ANC in its manifesto.
We are however disappointed that some people have already gone public and criticized the NHI programme as an "unworkable and unaffordable solution" to the health crisis even before the launch of the policy paper with details of the National Insurance Fund.
The only reason these people oppose the NHI is that it threatens their economic interest because their primary concern is not how to improve and provide quality healthcare to South Africans but how much money are they going to make from the plight of our people.
The critics have already shown their class prejudices by dismissing the NHI in favour of the grossly unjust two-tiered system that discriminates against the poor and is unaffordable to the low wage earners.
NEHAWU as a working class champion that is at the forefront of the transformation of the health sector is deeply opposed to the commodification of the health sector and we believe that the sick people of this country are not commodities to be exploited by the capitalists.
Provision of quality healthcare is a constitutional right and the main goal of the NHI is to make sure that health care is more accessible to all whether rich or poor.
Medical aid schemes have so far shown no willingness to cover large numbers of lower income people who are left at the mercy of the over-burdened and under-resourced public health sector.
The NHI system will address the disparity that has resulted in South Africa being one of the most unequal societies in the world by making sure that the poor access free healthcare at the point of delivery whether they are employed or not.
NEHAWU is committing itself to mobilize and campaign for the implementation of the NHI and we will not sit idle while the capitalists profit from the sick people of this country and deny the poor of this country their right to quality healthcare.
Statement issued by the NEHAWU communications department, June 10 2009
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