THE MOMENTUM Metropolitan Health Group, one of the biggest private healthcare groups with more than 3.2 million clients, is partnering with major labour unions and notable black business leaders to help it provide healthcare for more South Africans.
The group announced a transaction yesterday that will see 32 percent of its shareholding owned by Nehawu Investment Holdings, the investment company of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), Popcru Group of Companies (PGC), investment company of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, as well as business leaders in the health sector: Dr Gil Mahlati, Professor Lucky Mathebula, Dr Ntombi Mutshekwane, Mogologolo Phasha, Dr Sello Rathete and Dr David Sekete.
Momentum Metropolitan Health chief executive Hannes Viljoen said the deal, the rand value of which was not disclosed, would see the new shareholders increase their stake to 49 percent in the short term.
The transaction had been four years in the making and it was an integral part of the group’s efforts to help enable universal access to healthcare for all South Africans.
He said in an online presentation that the new partnerships would help them initially gain access to a potential market of some 6 million employed South Africans who have no access to healthcare, and with many of these employees active in the labour movement, the partnership was structured so that more trade unions would be able to join through the course of time.
The take-up of healthcare insurance and other solutions of people in this market would also take a considerable burden off the public healthcare system, he said.
The group was also confident that it should be able to reduce the cost of providing current services in time. This would be the result of the group being able to provide healthcare services at increasing scale, due in large measure to the empowerment transaction, and with increasing digitisation in healthcare and in the improvement of other efficiencies such as reducing wastage, he said.
“We started to look for the right partners when we saw the need to change in a transforming society, when we saw a dire need for transformation in the private healthcare industry to support universal access, and when we decided we would create more healthcare solutions, for more people, for less,” he said.
Nehawu Investment Holdings chief executive Makgane Thobejane said Nehawu and Popcru represented some 500 000 persons, a figure that increased to more than 2 million people if their dependants were taken into account.
He said the unions had advocated the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme because the healthcare system in South Africa was dysfunctional in its allocation of healthcare resources and capacity, and there were problems of access. “We achieved that (NHI), but we now needed to become active in healthcare. We had to find a credible partner so we could help in providing universal access to healthcare. We started discussions with various players four years ago.
“Two years later, we saw the success Popcru was enjoying through their earlier partnership with Momentum, so we started discussions,” he said.
Mahlati, chairperson of the African Finance Group, said this transaction would bring intellectual capital, financial capital as well as people in terms of participants and beneficiaries, to the Momentum Metropolitan Health Group.
“The partnership between major labour unions, exceptionally credible black industry leaders and our company’s capabilities and management competence, gives us the ability to work together to create more health for more people for less.
“Essentially, we are gearing up to enable universal access to healthcare for all South Africans,” said Viljoen. The health group, which includes Momentum Health Solutions and Metropolitan Health Group, has clients that include individual consumers and employee groups in the retail, corporate and public sectors.
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