Most of the public healthcare facilities in the country – more than 60% – are not compliant with the necessary standards to be considered “NHI-ready”, and will need a massive injection of focus, skills and funding to get to the required levels, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
In a written response to a recent RISE Mzansi parliamentary question, the Minister admitted that of the 3 092 facilities inspected by the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC), only 1 226 – or 39.65% – complied with the legislated standards.
This means the remaining 1 866 or 60.35% of them do not comply with these standards and are thus not “NHI-ready”, reports Business Tech.
The worst performing province, with an average rate of compliance of 15.89%, is the Northern Cape, with Limpopo (17.88%), Free State (20.18%) and Eastern Cape (26.74%) not far behind.
In Limpopo, of 397 facilities inspected, just 71 were complaint, and in the Eastern Cape, 181 out of 677. In KwaZulu-Natal, 208 out of 568 were not compliant.
In the Western Cape, 123 out of 194 were compliant, and in Gauteng, 220 out of 307 were compliant.
“The figures should concern all of us, given that most South Africans rely on these facilities, which are evidently not up to the regulated standards; moreover, healthcare practitioners are not working in environments conducive to providing quality healthcare,” said RISE Mzansi.
On the costs to bring infrastructure back up to scratch, the Minister said that this is unknown at this stage but the OHSC will spend another R16m in the 2024/25 financial year to cover the cost of inspecting 668 facilities.
This is not the cost of bringing facilities up to standard – just inspecting them.
The idea of using funds from the Public Investment Corporation (holding assets of around R2.7trn, which mainly serves public sector entities), to finance public health infrastructure to prepare for the NHI remains an active point of discussion within the government.
The data give credence to the widely stated “consolation” to those worried about the impact of the NHI on private healthcare that the scheme is nowhere near ready to be implemented or put into full effect.
This is despite the Health Department moving ahead with its phased roll-out of the scheme, which envisions funding mechanisms rolling out as soon as 2026.
BusinessTech article – It doesn’t look good for the NHI in South Africa (Open access)
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