The Portfolio Committee on Health has received about 100,000 submissions on the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, but is yet to read one.
To boot, there is about a month left for submissions. According to a report in The Citizen, at a briefing on key items on Parliament’s agenda with the chair of chairs, Cedric Frolick, chair of the Portfolio Committee on Health Sibongiseni Dhlomo said members of his committee were sacrificing their weekends to attend public hearings across the country. Mpumalanga is first up this weekend.
He said the Western Cape would be the last province in February before the State of the Nation Address (Sona). After the Sona, they intend to look at all the written submissions. “We’re hoping that by June, we’ll be rounding up as a committee to present a report to the Speaker,” Dhlomo said.
The report says Frolick added that the National Council of Provinces would also have a public participation process on the Bill and go to other regions that the Portfolio Committee on Health hadn’t visited. “Questions have been raised about how the National Health Insurance Bill would be financed and whether our country can afford it, among other issues.”
[link url="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/health/2195221/100000-submissions-on-nhi-bill-received/"]The Citizen report[/link]