The Public Service Commission says the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deficiencies of the country’s health care sector.
The Commission released its quarterly bulletin which highlights among others, an increase in complaints related to social grants.
It also shows fraud related to the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the public sector.
Commissioner Richard Seloane says the pandemic also showed that the private health care sector is not immune to challenges.
“It exposed the deficiencies within the health sector broadly and it came in at a time when the Department of Health was still working on the proposals for the NHI. There was a perception that private health care is far much better than public health care, and it exposed that there are even serious challenges within the private sector,” says Seloane.
Health system under scrutiny
South Africa’s public health system was allocated billions of rands to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, however, some analysts said there was no clear strategy on how the funds would be used.
This is according to Executive Director at the Public Accountability Research Institute, Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi, and Health and Financing Specialist at the Wits School of Governance, Professor Alex van den Heever.
In the video below, both experts share their views on the country’s health system:
-Additional reporting by SABC News.
