Godongwana says Motsoaledi must submit NHI rollout plan to be considered in the budget
He's put the ball back in the court of Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi to come up with a figure, if he wants money from the fiscus.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana briefs the media following the postponement of his budget speech. Picture: Parliament
CAPE TOWN - Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says until a price tag has been attached to the National Health Insurance (NHI), he can’t budget for it.
He's put the ball back in the court of Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi to come up with a figure, if he wants money from the fiscus.
While Godongwana was unable to table his budget over a Value-Added Tax (VAT) proposal impasse with Government of National Unity (GNU) partners on Wednesday, he told the media at parliament there needs to be considerable improvement of health facilities before a national health insurance can be introduced.
The NHI has become a political football, with conflicting reports emerging from cabinet ministers ahead of the State of the Nation Address as to how its implementation will be accommodated in the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP).
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As for funding these plans, Godongwana is adopting a wait-and-see approach, saying estimated costs to date have all been based on guesswork.
"Minister Motsoaledi must submit a document to government saying how is he going to roll out the implementation of the NHI so that all of us can be able to engage with it and understand the full cost of the implementation, over what period."
Godongwana adds several health facilities currently don’t meet the threshold of what’s required for universal health care, and the untabled budget proposes a costing exercise to build more hospitals.
"The infrastructure has to be upgraded, substantially, for hospitals to be able to be compliant with the NHI, that’s where we are in terms of the costs."
READ: Healthcare coalition proposes alternative to NHI: 'It can be implemented now'
The proposed budget aims to fastrack hospital upgrades by increasing the number of bid windows from one to four.
In punting the unpopular VAT increase, Godongwana was set to tell the house that R29 billion of this money would be used to keep more than 9,000 healthcare workers in hospitals.
It would also allow for the employment of 800 post-community service doctors and keep pharmacies stocked.