Health department changes tack to woo private-sector doctors

The health department is looking for new ways to entice private-sector general practitioners (GPs) to provide their services under the National Health Insurance (NHI), after a lacklustre response to its attempts to get them to work in state facilities.

Only 250 private-sector GPs were contracting with the state at the end of March, according to the Foundation for Professional Development MD Gustaaf Wolvaardt. This is a far cry from the state’s original target of 900 GPs, which it had hoped to reach by March 2015. ….more