'NHI will be safe in our hands' - Phaahla
Health Minister Joe Phaahla has sought to allay the fears of naysayers, highlighting that the National Health Insurance (NHI) won’t become another failed state enterprise like Eskom.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla addresses the media at a briefing in Pretoria on 31 May 2023. Picture: GCIS
CAPE TOWN - Health Minister Joe Phaahla has sought to allay the fears of naysayers, highlighting that the National Health Insurance (NHI) won’t become another failed state enterprise like Eskom.
In his State of the Nation Address last Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa joked that he was only looking for a pen so that he could sign the NHI Bill into law.
It was passed by Parliament in December.
During debate on the president’s address on Tuesday, Phaahla said the cooperation between the public and private sectors on the mass vaccination campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic had laid the basis for the NHI.
"Those who fear that the NHI will become an SOE, some say it will be an Eskom, let me tell you this - you can ask the Auditor-General, in this last audit, all public health entities either got clean audits or got unqualified audits, without exception. So, we can assure you, NHI will be safe in our hands."
Phaahla said that in preparation for the implementation of the NHI, his department was also looking at more opportunities for doctors.
The number of graduates had almost doubled over the last ten years, leaving many of them frustrated and turning to protests over not being employed in the public health sector.
"Our national teams are already working together between Treasury and Health to thrash out the details and working with provincial departments to speed up the process so that by the first of April this year, all those doctors who wish to work in the public sector will be able to get jobs."