FF Plus warns about NHI process
29 November 2019
The FF Plus wants to warn that if there are any complaints about interference with the public participation process of the National Health Insurance (NHI), the party will be obliged to declare a dispute against the entire process at Parliament.
This follows after it came to light in the media yesterday that the MEC for Health in the Free State gave permission for an official pamphlet to be distributed by the Free State provincial government which encourages people to support the NHI Bill. This is not the first time that something like this has happened.
In October this year, it also came to light that the Pharmacy Council sent a ‘bully’ email to members in the pharmaceutical industry which requested that members must complete the attachment to the email which states that they support the NHI Bill. The FF Plus confronted the Minister about the email in the Portfolio Committee for Health and a day later, the Pharmacy Council apologised to its members for sending the email.
The FF Plus is currently in the Eastern Cape to monitor the public participation process and serve as a member of the Portfolio Committee. The public participation process is specifically there to afford people the opportunity to give their input about a specific process or bill without any pressure or interference from the government, the people are, thus, given an opportunity to exercise their democratic right to be for or against a process or bill.