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President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a performance agreement with Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize, which includes a strict implementation date for South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI).
The performance agreement, which was made available to the public on Tuesday (December 8) for the first time, states that the NHI must be phased in to bring universal health coverage to at least 90% of South Africa by 2030.
As part of this process, Mkhize must meet the following deadlines:
- The NHI Fund must be established as a public entity and operational by 2021/2022;
- The Fund should start purchasing services by 2022/2023;
- Through a progressive process, 90% of South Africans should be covered by 2030.
The performance agreements also require Mkhize to prepare all the country’s necessary clinics and hospitals for the system by 2025.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government will not be ‘reckless’ in the implementation of the NHI and that the Department of Health should prepare adequately for the implementation of the system.
“We will implement it incrementally and our goal is to cover the entire country by 2025. We will use an affordable approach to progressively move towards a comprehensive NHI environment,” he said.
Ramaphosa also asked the private sector and citizens to mobilize behind the NHI to see it implemented.
“I call on the private sector to join the government to make the NHI a reality. Transforming the healthcare landscape to make it more efficient, profitable and profitable requires us to forge strong public-private partnerships for service delivery, ”he said.
“We remain committed to ensuring that there is effective consultation and engagement with all industry partners at all stages of the process.”
NHI is expected to offer all South Africans and legal residents access to a defined package of health services. It is not clear how comprehensive or broad this range of services will be.
That depends on the funds available to NHI; that and structures remain one of the biggest questions and challenges.
Read: Ramaphosa ministers sign ‘performance contracts’, promising to create jobs and stop waste
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