ANC ‘lost the plot’ on healthcare policy — union leader

Abstract

Unless there is speedy and decisive political leadership regulating the current ‘tide of profiteering’ in private healthcare, the much-acclaimed National Health Insurance (NHI) will merely entrench current private sector turmoil and prolong court battles over aberrant laws.
This is the blunt view of Neil Nair, Principal Officer of the South African Municipal Workers National Medical Scheme (SAMWUMED), who spoke at this year’s Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) conference. Nair said the ANC had betrayed its original policy commitment to the provision of free healthcare at point of service in order to appease a market-oriented agenda that included the enrichment of a new black elite, leaving the patient at the mercy of greed and ‘unfettered marketism’.