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‘Govt should not be given monopoly over health care’

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The Head of Policy at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), Anthea Jeffery says government should not be given the monopoly over health care in the country.

Jeffery’s comments come amid of public concerns over government’s introduction of the National Health Insurance (NHI).

Government says the NHI which will be fully implemented by 2026 aims to give all South Africans equal access to quality health care.

However, Jeffery is also concerned about how the NHI will be managed.

“The idea is, as Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi our former health minister said, is that by the time the NHI becomes fully operative, all existing medical schemes that still remain will be collapsed into the NHI fund and it’s hard to imagine that such a massive, single medical scheme will have the capacity to cope with a huge volume of work and it’s also very disturbing that  government wants effective monopoly over health care.”

“We have monopoly over electricity and it’s not functioning well. We shouldn’t be giving this government a monopoly over health care.”

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