The government may not need to introduce new taxes to finance the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme for another decade. This is according to a presentation by the Department of Health to Parliament. The department’s deputy director-general for NHI, Nicholas Crisp, sketched a 15-year phased funding model. This suggests that new tax levies would only commence around 2033/34. New NHI…
Tag: health policy
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TB Epidemic Challenges and Local Manufacturing Needs
The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has issued an urgent call for the establishment of secure medical supply chains and the enhancement of local manufacturing capacity. They warn that medicine stockouts and diagnostic delays are costing lives and undermining efforts to end the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. This critical demand was made during the official relaunch of the South African…
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Private Healthcare: Addressing Funding Concerns in South Africa
Speakers at this year’s Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA) conference presented a stark reality to delegates: both public and private healthcare funding in the nation is heading towards a sustainability crisis. While potential solutions involving smarter collaboration and resource pooling exist, the path to implementation remains fraught with inaction. Political inertia is also a significant barrier. The conference unfolded…
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Global Health must remain a pillar of G7 and G20 agendas
Germany’s Health Minister, Nina Warken, has made an impassioned plea for global health to remain a central pillar of the G7 and G20 agendas, as concerns grow that the United States intends to strip back the G20’s focus to its original financial mandate when it assumes the presidency next year. Speaking to an international audience at the World Health Summit…
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Medical Aid Tax Credits Impact on Private Healthcare
The Department of Health is actively collaborating with the National Treasury to establish thresholds for medical aid tax credits. This signals the first concrete steps towards phasing them out to fund the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. While officials insist the initial changes will only affect high-income earners, the move has ignited fierce criticism. It has raised concerns about transparency…
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Healthcare Facilities Cheat Compliance Checks
The nation’s health standards watchdog has sounded the alarm over an increasingly common and deceptive practice. Healthcare establishments “borrow” medical equipment and essential documents from other facilities to pass inspections fraudulently. This “window dressing,” as facilities cheat compliance checks, is being driven by a rush to obtain certificates of compliance ahead of the nationwide rollout of the National Health Insurance…
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A Diabetes Data Crisis is Making the Epidemic Invisible in SA
South Africa is grappling with a severe public health emergency as diabetes solidifies its position as one of the nation’s leading causes of death, according to Statistics South Africa. This alarming situation is part of a larger diabetes data crisis. Yet, a shocking and abrupt revision in international estimates has revealed a parallel crisis: the country does not reliably know…
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NHLS Cancer Testing Delays Outsourcing Solutions
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has confirmed it is engaging private sector laboratories to address a critical backlog in cancer testing at its Johannesburg facility. This backlog has left some public healthcare patients waiting as long as three months for potentially life-saving diagnostic results. The NHLS, which forms the diagnostic backbone of the nation’s public health system, is facing…
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End of UNAIDS Looms as UN Proposes Agency Closure by 2026
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the principal agency leading the global effort to end the AIDS pandemic, could be dismantled by the end of 2026. This is according to a startling proposal within a new UN document. The move is part of a broader restructuring effort as the international body grapples with a significant funding crisis. The…
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Upfront Medical Aid Payments a Growing Concern
Upfront medical aid payments cost members of medical aid schemes a staggering R43 billion last year. This is a situation the industry regulator says is causing significant financial hardship and worsening health inequalities. The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) revealed the figure in its 2023-24 industry report. It highlights a system where members are increasingly shouldering costs that they expect…
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Good NHI Governance is Crucial to Restoring Trust
If the government is serious about rebuilding public trust in the health sector, it must begin with a critical overhaul of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act’s governance framework. Good NHI governance is imperative for healthcare reform. This call for accountability echoes the loudest demand from the nation’s first national convention in August: a demand for better governance. The convention,…