# How many blows will be needed to stop the NHI?

- Link: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/2019/12/02/how-many-blows-will-be-needed-to-stop-the-nhi/
- Published: 2019-12-02T14:12:24+02:00
- Author: dearSA

![DearSA - National Health Insurance](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/
uploads/2019/08/20191308/Screenshot-2019-08-08T180856.902.png "National Health Insurance")

Trade union Solidarity intensified its war against the government’s proposed National
Health Insurance (NHI) and is now threatening to take the fight all the way to the
Constitutional Court.

The NHI, which is before parliament for consideration, is the government’s plan 
to provide universal healthcare access to all South Africans. It is expected to 
be rolled out by 2026 and is [estimated to cost R256bn](https://www.fin24.com/Economy/nhi-will-boost-sas-economy-says-health-minister-20190830-2).

“The NHI, should it come into effect, would bring an unprecedented disaster for 
South Africans,” said Morné Malan, a strategic specialist at Solidarity.

“We don’t know just how far government’s irrationality and insanity will go. We 
don’t know how many blows will be needed to stop the NHI, but we are ready to come
up with as many blows as will be needed, and, ultimately, with even more as long
as we can stop this disastrous policy,” said Malan.

“We are also ready to participate in all further processes, to lobby against the
bill and to resort to court action right to the Constitutional Court should this
bill ever be enacted.”

The trade union, which this week submitted its comments on the NHI representing 
a mandate of 30 000 people, reiterated its survey findings among health practitioners
in the private and public sector.

“They are not being treated as individuals with rights but rather as resources and
state assets that can be allocated as government deems fit. It is no wonder that
our national survey among health practitioners shows that they are almost unanimous
in agreeing that government will not be able to manage it and that health practitioners
are not interested in working within such a system,” said Hennie Bierman, head of
Solidarity’s Guilds.

The survey found that only 15% of respondents were of the view that the NHI could
possibly be successfully implemented, while 84.5% indicated the implementation could
destabilise the entire healthcare system.

“The NHI deprives health care practitioners of almost every freedom related to how
and where they practice their profession; it turns doctors, nurses, pharmacists 
and all other health professionals into mere commodities, denying them their humanity,
as it were,” said Bierman.

The deadline for written submissions on the NHI Bill closed on Friday, but oral 
submissions remain open.

The parliamentary portfolio on health, chaired by Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, conducted
the final round of public hearings for the year in the Eastern Cape on Friday.

It is set to resume mid-January and end the first week of February next year.

The committee said in a statement that it is of the view that, both oral and written
submissions received so far will contribute immensely in making the legislative 
framework which will lead to the achievement of the objective of the Bill.

“At the centre of this Bill is the preoccupation to ensure that there is quality
healthcare system that caters for everyone. The quality and amount of written and
oral submissions received from the people in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northern Cape,
KwaZulu-Natal provinces have greatly enhanced the Bill,” Dr Dhlomo said.

 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni told the National Council of Provinces (
NCOP) on Wednesday that the NHI system was the only opportunity for the SA public
healthcare system to shape up, reported Fin24.

Replying orally to questions from members of the NCOP, Mboweni said he did not believe
NHI should be considered the only panacea to the challenges dogging the public healthcare
system.

“We don’t have to wait for NHI to be implemented to fix our public healthcare system.
There are things that are within our power that can be fixed now,” Mboweni said.

Mboweni also urged MPs not to allow ideological persuasions to dictate their views
around the NHI without considering the benefits it could yield for South Africans.

_ – Compiled by Adiel Ismail_