Doctors, healthcare funders open to talks with govt on NHI but not ready to drop court cases yet

There are nine cases in court challenging government's proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) Act, and last week the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said he wants these matters to be settled out of court.

During debate on the medium-term budget in the National Assembly, Gondongwana said he believes solutions can be found to address the concerns of medical associations.

In an earlier interview, Professor Craig Comrie from the Health Funders Association (HFA), which is involved in one of the legal challenges, said they have always wanted to sit around the table with government and avoid protracted court cases..

Stephen Grootes gets input now also from the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the South African Medical Association (SAMA).

Both BHF MD Dr Katlego Mothudi and SAMA chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa highlight these bodies' past efforts to engage with government over the NHI.

There was no feedback on SAMA's proposals, and not even any acknowledgment, says Dr Mzukwa, which is why he finds Godongwana's pronouncements in Parliament "disingenuous" as they seem to imply the organisation's never been involved.

"But, we are saying that if government wants to talk, they must approach us - we're willing to talk."

However, SAMA will not be withdrawing its legal challenge simply because government wants to talk now, Dr Mothudi says.

"Going to court was the very last approach; we've done all we could to avoid this but because were issues that government was not wanting to clarify, we decided to go to court because there they'll be expected to respond to each and every concern we're raising in that affidavit."

Dr Mothudi highlights the same points of lack of clarification and engagement from the side of government.

The BHF will not be withdrawing the two cases it's involved in, he says, because there is nothing concrete yet in terms of the way forward.

"I think what needs to be clarified is what negotiation looks like in government's eyes... Even the court case is a way of us seeking clarification on the NHI - it's not really to block the efforts of government, but rather to improve healthcare provision in the country."

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