President Cyril Ramaphosa says corruption is a crime and it affects South Africa’s most vulnerable. Ramaphosa was speaking at the launch of the Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum (HSACF) at the Union Buildings on Tuesday.
The Forum is a collaboration among government, business and civil society organisations aimed at preventing, detecting and prosecuting malfeasance in the health sector.
He described the initiative as an important step to ensuring citizens receive their basic right to health care.
“The Forum emanates from the 2018 Presidential Health Summit 2018 Compact which mandated government and social partners to work together to reform the healthcare system. When people are corrupt in the health care system, the victims are immediately identifiable and the victims are the poorest in our country and the most vulnerable in society. Corruption impoverishes people and it also violates their constitutional right to health and it also costs lives because in other instances people literally die”
The Health Sector Anti Corruption Forum is a critical step in South Africa’s move towards universal health care according to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa says that fears that the NHI fund will become a target for criminals must be taken seriously.
