National Health Insurance Bill an election ploy, says SAMA
The South African Medical Association on Friday said the National Health Insurance Bill is being used as an election ploy ahead of this year’s polls.
On Thursday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would soon sign the NHI Bill into law.
The bill, passed by the National Council of Provinces in December, seeks to achieve universal healthcare for all South Africans.
SAMA chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said the government should use the opportunity to employ recently graduated doctors and fix the broken medical structures.
“Looking at the fact that recently there are about a thousand doctors who are not employed. and this state cannot employ those doctors at the moment, citing the unavailability of funds. So, we thought that they were going to use that opportunity, especially because these are young doctors, and we have a challenge with youth unemployment.
“We thought the president was going to be talking to that issue to say, ‘we are going to populate the hospitals with enough staff, fix the broken equipment, attend to our dilapidating infrastructure and then that system will make it ready for the NHI’. In some areas in this country, especially rural areas, don’t have hospitals. So how are they going to access the benefits under NHI?
“We’ll consider it as an election ploy and something that has no substance. It is being used as a political football.
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