The DA’s Sizani Healthcare Plan will achieve what the NHI can’t
Note to Editors: the following remarks were made today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, during a visit the Eastern Cape towns of Alexandria, Port Alfred and Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown).
3 October 2019
My fellow South Africans
For a country that spends what we do on healthcare, it is shameful that so many of our citizens do not have access to decent healthcare services. South Africa spends over R220 billion across all departments and entities annually. This should be enough to pay for quality healthcare for each and every South African resident, but thanks to corruption, mismanagement and poor appointments, much of this budget is wasted. And as a result, millions of poor South Africans suffer.
The communities I visited this morning in Alexandria have been let down by their government. The nearest hospitals are far away in Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred, and the clinic they have to make do with is completely insufficient. It is small, understaffed and under-resourced. Patients have to wait outside in the wind and rain.