President Ramaphosa outlines his vision on the National Health Insurance(NHI), at the National Health Insurance and Medical Schemes Amendment Bill Stakeholder Consultative Meeting, at the CSIR in Pretoria. Photo: Flickr/GCIS
President Ramaphosa outlines his vision on the National Health Insurance(NHI), at the National Health Insurance and Medical Schemes Amendment Bill Stakeholder Consultative Meeting, at the CSIR in Pretoria. Photo: Flickr/GCIS
Solidariteit has become the first organisation to publicly speak out against the proposed ‘Certificate of Need’ policy, which has the potential to dramatically change how doctors and other medical staff work and operate in South Africa. It’s believed that the controversial draft law would essentially roll out the red carpet for National Health Insurance (NHI).
What is more, one official believes it could influence our top doctors to leave Mzansi FOR GOOD.
Trade union speaks out: What is a Certificate of Need?
Under the framework pitched for the Certificate of Need, doctors and clinicians could be told to move elsewhere in order to continue practicing medicine. They may also be redeployed from their current roles, to take on different lines of work. As one can imagine, the proposal is causing quite a significant stir.
- The draft law asks all medical practitioners to apply for a Certificate of Need – allowing them to continue their work.
- However, the state will then TELL healthcare workers ‘where and how they can practice’.
- Seen as a pathway to NHI reforms, the resistance to these proposals is likely to be fierce.
- Solidariteit say that the Cerificate of Need ‘threatens the property rights’ of private practices.
- They estimate that 70 000 existing practices will be affected by the proposed new regulations.
- The trade union has warned that this could force more senior medical professionals to leave South Africa.
Is NHI being implemented in South Africa?
Henru Krüger, Sector Head of the Professional Guild at Solidariteit, fears that the ‘NHI-linked bill’ could undermine basic property rights in South Africa, tying the policy to that of land expropriation. With concerns about a nationalised health service already spooking some senior professionals, Krüger also fears this will prompt ‘an exodus of skilled workers‘.
“In its latest regulations, the state even goes so far as to threaten the property rights associated with practices with the implementation of his certificate of need. In this way, the state wants to assert the exclusive right to itself to decide who may provide health care and which health care may be provided.”
“Not only does the government want to deprive health workers of their rights to choose and practice their area of specialization, but it also undermines the public’s right to access the health care of their choice. Incorporating private health practitioners basically under forced labor into the public sector will result in an exodus of skilled physicians.”
