Professor Nicholas Crisp, deputy director-general for NHI in the Department of Health, has criticised an opinion piece written by Khulekani Mathe about the NHI Bill, and cautioned commentators to not “parrot” alarmist claims about the scheme.
Crisp, responding to a commentary in Business Times and reported in MedicalBrief last week, writes:
The article (“Private sector must participate in NHI”, Business Times 28 April) shows a profound misunderstanding of the National Health Insurance and suggests Mathe is parroting other commentators without reading the Bill.
The author must qualify what “proper public participation” is, since he is suggesting that 20 years of consultation and White Paper development and five years in Parliament are inadequate public participation. The implied arrogance is that if the views of one group are not adopted, all of the others are wrong.
Mathe refers to “public servants losing subsidies received through GEMS (Government Employees Medical Scheme)”. How does he arrive at that conclusion? ….more
