Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has alluded to continued room for the private sector in healthcare financing, saying funding must be sustainable “not just for a single financial year but for generations to come”, and that the private sector should be part of the solution.
The Minister, who has previously expressed reservations about National Health Insurance (NHI) funding, did not specifically refer to the planned scheme, but called for public/private sector partnerships.
News24 reports that Godongwana has previously said he cannot budget to implement NHI “without a price tag”, and last week again appealed for innovative ideas on how to fund the system.
In his opening speech for the AU’s specialised technical committee on finance, monetary affairs, economic planning and integration, themed “Bridging Africa’s Health Financing Gap in a Changing Geo-Economic Context: Challenges and Potential Solutions”, he called for an “enabling environment for both the public and private sectors to join hands and unlock investment, and explore partnerships across the healthcare infrastructure value chain”.
“Our continent’s health sector is facing a phalanx of multiple crises. It is underfunded, overstretched and faces a distressing decline in Official Development Assistance,” he said.
This compounds the existing increase in debt-service obligations, “and demands we take charge in strengthening the resilience of our health financing while weaning ourselves off external financing that is becoming less reliable”.
He said the theme of the AU meeting provided “a crucial opportunity for robust engagement about our requisite preparedness and suite of interventions available, if required, of our health sector and how these will be funded”, reports LegalBrief.
Godongwana said co-ordination between the Finance and the Health sector had never been more important, alluding to the pandemic.
“SA is hosting the G20 Presidency for 2025 and being mindful that this is on behalf of the continent. . . we deliberately cast our Presidency as a G20 Presidency for and on behalf of Africa.
“‘This is a profound responsibility, which runs through the theme of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability’. Global health challenges require collective solutions.”
African countries needed innovative ways to finance the sector, the Minister observed, recommending fiscal policies be examined to boost revenue through taxes on products like tobacco and alcohol and “to improve efficiency and transparency …to ensure every resource is used effectively”.
A global pact aimed at eliminating illicit financial flows would unlock billions of dollars in revenue that were being lost, he added. This money could be reinvested in health systems.
The speech follows Godongwana’s sustained guardedness about NHI financing. In the media briefing on 26 February, before dumping the first national Budget, he said he could not allocate funds to implement NHI without a “price tag”, and that public health facilities required considerable upgrades before it could be introduced.
“Minister Aaron Motsoaledi must submit a document saying how he plans to roll out the implementation, so that all of us can be able to engage with it and understand the full cost, and over what period,” he had said.
LegaBrief article – Bridging Africa's finance gap (Restricted access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
No budget for NHI without price tag – Finance Minister
No plans yet for NHI funding through taxes – Treasury