Mbalo Brief – June 2024

For many years, South Africa (SA) has been operating two healthcare parallel systems . These being the private healthcare system and public healthcare system which have been operating in tandem to one another. This is now in the past after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law on 15 May 2024. The NHI is a fund from which the government will buy healthcare services for South Africans from healthcare providers both in the public and private sectors. The NHI will make healthcare more affordable by reducing the cost of healthcare for all. It acts like a medical aid for everyone and all of us will contribute to this fund through taxes and special contributions. The NHI will ensure that everyone is entitled to free healthcare when they need it and there will be no fees charged at the facility because the fund will cover the costs of care. The signing of the NHI into law brings SA one step closer towards the universal health coverage (meaning that all people will have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship), in a quest to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of good health and well-being for all.

Download Mbalo brief – June 2024