Africa

Africa, Politics

NHI takes the scenic route

NHI takes the scenic route

The National Health Insurance Scheme will be delayed, it seems, even before it reaches a semblance of solidity.

On Monday the Health Department said  proposals would only be made public in November, which does not make for a law by December, as the ANC originally promised. We are a long, long way from legislation. Both the ANC and the Health Ministry have several times promised extensive consultation before the NHI is implemented. That implementation will likely be delayed by a court challenge or two. That makes for sufficient time to take us into World Cup territory, at which point the country will come to a standstill and nothing will get done for several more months.

So what is Government playing at starting the delays so early in the process? Predictably, officials say the proposals have to go to a cabinet committee before its made public for further comment.

Perhaps the ANC was just over-excited earlier this year. Or, as we are more inclined to believe, it could be that the people at the top of the health tree realise that the NHIC will be neither effective nor efficient. Perhaps they realise that it won’t be cheap and that it would require an enormous new bureaucracy to run. Maybe they’d prefer to take it slow – very slow.

If you were health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, maybe the NHI issue makes you think back to Aids in the Manto era. People dying in queues, front page new stories about people dying in queues, and accusations of everything from human rights abuses to murder laid at your door. The final straw: when the first cabinet member gets caught smuggling a sick child to Botswana for very expensive medical treatment. (We bet it ends up being Paul Mashitile.)

If you were Motsoaledi, who feels passionate about this system, it would make sense to work on the worst pitfalls in the background, before talking too much in public. Also, it may make sense to have your deputy make all the speeches in the meanwhile. Molefi Sefularo has either taken to the spotlight, or is being pushed into it. Let’s see who fronts the final proposal.

By Stephen Grootes

(Grootes is EWN reporter, www.ewn.co.za)

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.