Health Minister Joe Phaahla’s assertion that the NHI Bill is historic and revolutionary is nothing more than ANC political speak – intended to lure voters with red herring gestures ahead of an election that may leave them bleeding from the gills.
It is undeniable that the ANC’s anti-Midas touch has left our country in crisis with the passing of this bill in an effort to deflect attention from the realities that plague our public health service and our nation.
The argument that personal financial resources directed at the private healthcare industry are the solution to good quality universal healthcare, is defective in the extreme. The existence of private healthcare that is vigorously sought after by citizens is an indictment on what the public healthcare service delivers.
The fact that the civil service and spheres of government have compulsory private medical aid for employees demonstrates the dishonesty in the ANC’s claim that this NHI Bill is for the benefit of all citizens. ANC politicians have always avoided the public health service like the plague – just like they have avoided public schools in favour of private schools.
Not all public healthcare staff can be criticized for the problems that exist. Many are true servants of the people and dedicated to their cause. The many and varied problems within the service all stem from a root cause. That of inept and poor governance under defective policies, meaningless oversight, non-accountability, abuse and manipulation of procurement, and conflation of self-importance with service delivery objectives.
Billboards plastered with the faces of politicians, high-speed-blue-light-freeway-thuggery, bodyguards, drivers, houses with generators, opulent lifestyles, all come at taxpayers’ expense for this wannabe Hollywood regime.
Remove these sideshows and place the focus on training, maintenance, consequence management, batho-pele and simply doing the job one is paid to do. We may then begin to experience a public health service that citizens will have confidence in.
The timing of the NHI is a giveaway to its true intentions. The concerns raised around its content – or lack thereof – have been aired on many platforms. Consider also, the fate of SAA, Eskom, Transnet and the myriad of SOE’s that this ANC government looted and trashed. Faced with yet another such opportunity, will they resist the temptation to extract from it in the same sinister way that state capture enabled the other SOE’s to be ransacked? History says no.
Government must strive for good quality universal healthcare. How it reaches that goal depends on the values, principles and care demonstrated in its performance. The DA has a unique record of good performance within the health sector – and it has been achieved within the current legal framework. This was attested to by outgoing Health Ombud, Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba.
Good services come from good governance. Performance within the public service must be dealt with before government fiddles with the framework under the false pretence of being ‘revolutionary’.
EDWIN BAPTIE, MPL
DA KZN Spokesperson on Health
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