Sakeliga rejects Sahpra's BEE conditions for medical products
4 July 2023
Sakeliga rejects the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority’s (Sahpra) proposed BEE conditions for the manufacture, import, prescribing and trading of health products and medical equipment.
Sahpra's plan to make BEE a prerequisite in the medical industry is contained in a new draft policy entitled "Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Policy for Issuance of Licences". The policy aims to "integrate all elements of B-BBEE (with) the issuing of licences... and permits" for health products and medical equipment. In effect, Sahpra intends to prohibit the supply of health products and medical equipment that do not meet BEE requirements. Such actions offer an alarming preview of the drastic consequences of an NHI system in which the state would have the entire medical supply chain under its control.
The policy proposes two phases: Phase 1 makes it mandatory to submit a BEE certificate, without which Sahpra will refuse to grant licenses. Once Phase 1 is in place, Sahpra then wants to refuse the granting and renewal of licenses unless specific BEE levels are achieved and maintained (Phase 2).
The BEE licensing of health products and equipment is a grim illustration of how BEE promotes the narrow interests of politicians, bureaucrats, and self-enriching intermediaries at the expense of the public. It is inevitable that the addition of BEE requirements - a measure with inherently no relevance for the effective supply of medical products - will lead to declines in the quality, affordability, and availability of medical products. The stifling effect will discourage both local and international operators.