The thorny question of who should pay for foreign nationals’ healthcare has been raised again, this time at the opening by President Cyril Ramaphosa of Mpumalanga’s new 220-bed King Nyabela Hospital in Middelburg, reports EWN.
The provincial government said the cost of treating foreign patients is placing additional pressure on an already stretched public health system, and has called for foreign governments to reimburse South Africa for the care their citizens receive at State facilities.
Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu said the ballooning costs of treating them should not be carried by South Africa alone, that they should “not be utilising our facilities for nothing”, and that the government was “exploring ways to recover those costs from their countries of origin”.
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