Dire public health care sheds light on NHI

30 August 2019

Solidarity’s Guild for Health Care Practitioners today expressed their deepest concern regarding the worrisome non-compliance of all Gauteng state healthcare facilities to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

“The utter disregard for occupational safety at Gauteng state hospitals and clinics further serves as proof that the government is not equipped to execute a national health care plan, if they cannot at least ensure the safety of staff and patients in one province,” said Hennie Biermann, Head of Solidarity’s Occupational Guilds.

Bierman expressed particular concern for the members of the Health Care Practitioners’ Guild who have to earn a living in these uncertain and life-threatening situations due to the state’s complete inability to implement even the minimum acceptable safety measures.

This follows in the wake of the Portfolio Committee on Health announcing the closing date for comments on the proposed National Health Insurance Bill. According to Morné Malan, senior researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, this serves as another reminder of the state’s lack of competence to run healthcare facilities even on a limited scale. Anybody who assumes that an increase in the scope of state involvement in healthcare to cover all South Africans would run concomitant with an increase in the ability to deliver quality services is either naïve or dishonest.

“While we welcome the notion of making quality healthcare more accessible to all South Africans, we are convinced that the regulatory capture and technocratic control proposed by the NHI represents the worst possible vehicle to achieve this goal,” Malan concluded.

Issued by Morné Malan, Senior Researcher: Solidarity Research Institute, 30 August 2019