Payouts by provincial health departments for medical negligence have fallen significantly in recent years. Yet the financial burden on the public health system remains enormous. A landmark court ruling has also closed the door on one proposed solution. According to National Treasury figures, negligence payouts dropped from R1.8 billion in 2019/20 to R1.5 billion in 2023/24. Health Minister Dr Aaron…
Tag: Litigation
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Medical Negligence Compensation Reform Impacts on Budgets
South Africa’s system for compensating victims of medical negligence is under severe pressure. Nowhere is that clearer than in the Eastern Cape. The province paid out more than R630m in medical negligence claims in the 2024/25 financial year. That is about 2% of its R30.1bn budget. The Eastern Cape governent didn’t plan for these payouts, and the result is predictable.…
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NHI Public Participation Challenge Reshapes Legislative Focus
\n\nGetty Images for Unsplash\n\n\n\nThe shift matters because it could determine the fate of several parallel cases. The court has signalled that if the public participation challenge succeeds, arguments about the President’s decision to sign may become irrelevant. In practical terms, this means the court may delay the most politically charged question – whether Ramaphosa acted rationally when signing the NHI…
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Busa Seeks an NHI Meeting with President Ramaphosa
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has backed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s call to cool tensions around National Health Insurance (NHI). In fact, Busa seeks an NHI Meeting to ensure there is structured engagement with the Presidency in the first quarter of 2026. The aim is to discuss proposals previously submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Busa is the largest umbrella body…
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NHI Truce Talks: Godongwana Pushes Settlement On NHI
South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) debate may finally be shifting from courtroom combat to negotiation. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has called for the parties litigating against the NHI Act to declare a truce and work towards a settlement. The message is simple. Years of fighting over the policy have drained attention from the daily job of fixing a strained…
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NHI Legal Challenges: Talks Stalled by Politics, Funding Gaps
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s call in Parliament to withdraw the nine National Health Insurance (NHI) lawsuits and pursue negotiations hinted at a reset. The NHI legal challenges highlight complex debates over the future of healthcare in South Africa. Some stakeholders, including Profmed’s Craig Comrie, signalled openness to talks to avoid appearing anti-poor. Yet beneath the courtesy lies hard calculus: most…
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NHI Affordability: Key Issues and Legal Perspectives
Multiple groups are challenging the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The Western Cape Government is the eighth group to file a lawsuit. A key legal argument in these court cases is NHI affordability. Litigants question whether the state can realistically fund the scheme. This issue forms the foundation of several constitutional challenges against the new law. The outcome of these…
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Adcock Ingram’s Urizone Wins Trademark Battle
A South African court has ruled in favour of Adcock Ingram and Zambon SPA. It ordered Cipla Medpro to stop using the trademark Furizome for its urinary tract infection (UTI) medication. The court found Furizome to be confusingly similar to the established Urizone trademark, central to Adcock Ingram’s branding strategy. This led to a ruling based on trademark infringement and…