Blog 8: Governmental Healthcare System in South Africa

South Africa has begun to put into place a national healthcare insurance system.  It appears to be modeled after the UK system of having centralized healthcare in larger, more urban environments, with satellite clinics in the more rural areas that have the ability to provide the basics in primary healthcare, to include the needed support for women who are pregnant.  The article speaks about the current status of the South African government and their current abilities in changing over to the National Health Insurance system.  The country has a total of 3,880 healthcare facilities, and where the larger of these facilities (centralized hospitals) have passed the rigorous inspections and audits to assess their standards, the smaller facilities need more attention.  Not only is there a current country wide upgrade in medical technology but the personnel that is to be staffed to run these healthcare facilities is being updated as well.  The South African government has turned to Cuba for proper training of 1000 medical physicians, as well as invited another 95 Cuban nationals with medical degrees to come and work in the country almost immediately.  To try and rapidly initiate the National Health Insurance system within the country, the government has also contracted 500 private healthcare providers to get the system moving in the right direction, so everybody can be able to receive the healthcare that they deserve.  In the current budget “R150-million has been allocated to the NHI pilot sites… doubling in 2013/14 and rising to R450-million in 2014/15.”  That is about 16.4 million dollars this fiscal year and almost 50 million dollars in the 2014/2015 financial year.  This is a huge step not only for the South African government, but for the citizens who would greatly benefit from a nationalized government healthcare system. 

A person’s right to healthcare is a fundamental right, and now the South African government is finding a way to be able to provide that right to all of its country’s citizens.  Through proper internal budgetary planning, assistance from already supportive countries, and the financial support to improve the national healthcare infrastructure from the World Bank, the idea of National Health Insurance for the country of South Africa is going to become a reality.  As eluded to in the article, the healthcare system that is going to be put in place is going to be similar to the United Kingdom’s, where a large portion of the population benefits from a government run health system, but still has the ability for those who can afford to participate in a private health system.  In South Africa, before the nationalized health bill was passed in the government, this was the only type of health care that was available.  I am sure that there will still be remnants of the private health care; the issue that the government needs to overcome is the stereotypical gap in care between government and private healthcare.  It appears that they are on the right tract in improve a governmental healthcare system by bringing in current physicians that work in the country and provide training for future physicians, but only time will tell how effective the National Health Insurance system for South Africa really is.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201304030751.html?viewall=1

Matt Partridge

4/04/2013 at 2:50 pm