CAPE TOWN, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Thursday tabled the National Health Insurance (NHI) bill to Parliament, moving a step closer to fulfilling a constitutional obligation of providing quality universal healthcare for all.
Under the bill, the government will provide a package of comprehensive health services for free at private and public health facilities, as part of its bid to provide more equitable access to quality healthcare.
Such services will cover a wide range of people, including inmates, refugees, permanent residents and all children in South Africa.
Non-citizens may also benefit from the bill, and asylum-seekers and illegal aliens will only be entitled to emergency medical services and services for notifiable conditions of public health concern, such as HIV or tuberculosis.
"The NHI will benefit all South African citizens, permanent residents, refugees, inmates, designated foreign nationals and all children," Mkhize said. "So long as the system is accessed at the appropriate level of entry and the correct referral pathway is followed, services will be free at the point of care."
Sibongiseni Dhlomo, chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health, welcomed the move, calling it "one of the equalizers of society, where those who are poor can get access to good healthcare" and "a vehicle of making every citizen have access to healthcare."
"It is a public good and addresses issues of social solidarity," Dhlomo said. "We cannot wait to deliberate on the NHI bill and have it before the committee, so that those who are down-trodden can comment."
He voiced confidence that South Africans can see the NHI as great benefit.
"It would be extremely important to compare the life expectancy before and after the NHI has been implemented," said Dhlomo.
He said the bill has not yet been referred to the committee, although it has been tabled in Parliament.
"We need to wait for the parliamentary processes to take place before anything can be done," Dhlomo said.
