Despite widespread concerns about the financial viability and impact on the healthcare system of National Health Insurance (NHI), President Cyril Ramaphosa said it would eradicate South Africa’s stark healthcare inequalities.
“This transformational healthcare initiative in many ways gives further impetus and effect to our constitutional commitment to progressively realise access to healthcare services for all citizens,” Ramaphosa said on Wednesday as he signed the NHI Bill into law at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The NHI, for which membership will be compulsory, is a funding scheme that aims to address healthcare inequity in South Africa by providing equitable access to quality healthcare services.
“In this essence, the National Health Insurance is a commitment to eradicate the stark inequalities that have long determined who in our country receives adequate healthcare, and who suffers from neglect, by putting in place a system that ensures equal access to healthcare regardless of a person’s social and economic standing and circumstances.” ….more
