Cape Town - The constitutionality of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill came into focus during a select committee meeting on health and social services in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday.
The committee reconvened after a postponement on October 31 for outstanding submissions from the public to be captured.
The meeting got off to a slow start, when committee chairperson, Edward Njadu heard that some submissions from the Free State had not been captured.
However, the committee decided to move ahead with the submissions it had received, while those outstanding would be discussed at a later date.
Responding to a submission that the bill gave too much power to the health minister, the committee heard from the Department of Health that the NHI was intended to support citizens’ rights to health care, in that the bill enabled the minister to ensure effective and equitable access to healthcare.
“The implementation of the NHI is based on a structured, phased approach that incorporates the creation of the NHI Fund as a strategic purchaser of health-care services – this is also supplemented by several positions that address systemic shortfalls.
“Government remains invested in improving the public health system through additional models of funding to improve infrastructure, etc,” the committee heard.
Several submissions were received raising concern about potential job losses in the health-care sector.
The department said over time there would be a realignment of functions and some public employees may need to be reallocated according to provisions of the Labour Relations Act