Health Ombud confirms that NHI cannot be implemented
13 October 2022
Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Michele Clarke, MP
Yesterday, the Health Ombud, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, admitted to Parliament that the Department of Health would be unable to implement National Health Insurance (NHI).
The DA has raised numerous concerns with the NHI Bill that seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Hopefully, the ANC was paying attention to the Health Ombud during the briefing on their 2021/22 annual report to the parliamentary portfolio committee on health, because they have stubbornly persisted in ignoring warnings from the DA and health sector experts.
Prof Makgoba laid bare the reality of systemic mismanagement, crumbling infrastructure and chronic staff shortages when he told Parliament, “as things stand today we couldn’t go into the NHI with the level of inspections and certification we have done so far, because I suspect most of the hospitals will not meet the high standard required of the NHI”. The Western Cape was the exception to the rule.