NHI report: No support from healthcare workers

26 April 2021

Solidarity announced its latest report on the National Health Insurance (NHI) with regard to healthcare workers at a media conference today. According to the report, almost no healthcare worker supports the government’s plan to implement the NHI.

The report was compiled by the Solidarity Research Institute and based on an opinion survey conducted among healthcare workers in which they were asked to share their knowledge, insight on opinion with regard to the NHI.

“More than 85% of the healthcare workers who participated in the study indicated that the implementation of the NHI would lead to healthcare workers leaving the country. South Africa will therefore be left with a shortage of medical staff, which implies that quality and specialist healthcare services will be extremely scarce. All South Africans will suffer because of this and access to healthcare will consequently diminish instead of healthcare becoming more accessible,” said Nicolien Welthagen, senior research psychologist at Solidarity.

According to the report, the healthcare sector is opposed to the implementation of the NHI. Healthcare workers have indicated that they have no confidence in the government or in its ability to manage such a system effectively. According to them, this will destabilise healthcare in South Africa and it will be detrimental to the quality of care provided.

"Healthcare workers have specifically pointed out that the government is incompetent and that a system such as the NHI will only create another opportunity for further corruption by the government as this will give them access to more funds that can then be looted. Healthcare workers are also of the opinion that the Covid-19 pandemic made it abundantly clear that the government does not have the ability to manage a system of this magnitude,” Welthagen claimed.

The report also shows that healthcare workers believe that the government should focus on improving the current public healthcare system and that cooperation with the private sector should be encouraged rather than seeking to centralise and control the entire healthcare sector.

“Most healthcare workers simply do not want to work with or for the government. They do not trust the state and do not want to be accountable to the state or be told how to do their jobs. The fact that so many healthcare workers could leave the country is a major cause for concern. This will plunge South Africa’s healthcare into a crisis for which there will be no solution. We simply cannot allow the state to continue with its plans to implement the NHI and thus alienate and push away our healthcare workers,” Welthagen concluded.

Read the report here.

Issued by Nicolien Welthagen, Senior Research Psychologist, 26 August 2021