ANC YOUTH LEAGUE WELCOMES THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE AND CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE REGULATION OF HEALTHCARE PRICES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR:

The ANC Youth League welcomes and appreciates government's announcement of the National Health Insurance, which will guarantee access to quality healthcare by all South Africans. The chapter of massive inequalities on healthcare provision should gradually be closed, because the lives of all South Africans are valuable and can never be compromised because of socio-economic standing.

It is sad that in South Africa, the inequalities in healthcare provision are defined along racial lines and this is evident through the fact that the life expectancy of black South Africans stands at 48 years, whilst the life expectancy of white South Africans stands at 71.

The National Health Insurance should therefore guarantee all South Africans access to quality healthcare in all medical and healthcare facilities in the country. The Ministry of Health should also move with speed towards regulation of healthcare prices in the private healthcare facilities, particularly hospitals and clinics.

Private hospitals continue to make abnormally huge profits at the expense of the health of our people, who cannot afford access to quality healthcare. Healthcare provision should never be about profit maximisation, but should at all times be about the act of halting preventable deaths, saving lives and preventing diseases.

The National Health Insurance should also mean that the quality of healthcare services provided in public hospitals is upgraded and healthcare professionals trained and motivated to give professional, consistent services to all patients.

The health of our nation is elementary to far reaching progress and the future, so we carry an obligation to protect interventions that will stabilise and equalise healthcare provision across racial and class lines.  The department of health should therefore intensify all efforts to normalise healthcare provision in South Africa.

Statement issued by the African National Congress Youth League, August 11 2011

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