First fix existing hospital infrastructure before even considering ambitious plans like NHI

17 September 2019

The recent fires at various hospitals right across South Africa highlights the fact that infrastructure at medical institutions urgently need attention and that ambitious plans, like the National Health Insurance (NHI), are doomed to fail if the already existing institutions are not even maintained properly.

Just last Friday (13 September), no less than three fires, that caused great damage, broke out at three hospitals across South Africa.

The first fire was at the Mitchells Plain Day Hospital, the second at the Bram Fischer International Airport Hospital in Bloemfontein and the third at the Tygerberg Hospital.

This transpired just a few days after the FF Plus asked the Minister of Health (Zweli Mkhize) in Parliament why all Gauteng's state hospitals and clinics could not pass their safety audits. The Minister was unable to answer the question.

The FF Plus wants to reiterate that the infrastructure of state hospitals and clinics must first be upgraded and be made viable before the government can even think about implementing the NHI.

The FF Plus hopes that attention will urgently be given to the infrastructure of all state hospitals and clinics across South Africa and that the causes of the various fires will be disclosed soon.

Issued by Philip van Staden, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Health, 17 September 2019