News Desk | NHI
Ramaphosa's Legal Team Defends NHI Act as Treasury Allocates Billions for Rollout Amid Legal Challenges
Time to read: 01:08
Time to listen: 02:47 minutes
Type of article: News
MedED Catalogue Reference: MNHI0017
Category: News
Category Cross-reference: NHI | Health Policy
Keywords: NHI, BHF, National Treasury, Healthcare budget, Public Health
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17 November 2024 13:30
The South African government has missed a deadline in its court battle regarding the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act and is seeking an extension until the end of November. Trade union Solidarity has indicated that it will continue to argue against the NHI if the government does not present opposing documents, which it failed to provide after four months.
Solidarity initially filed its papers in May at the Gauteng North High Court and has requested the case to proceed unchallenged due to the government's inaction.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa's legal team has countered the Board of Healthcare Funders' challenge to the National Health Insurance Act, arguing that the BHF approached the wrong court.
The BHF, representing 40 medical schemes, filed a case in the High Court seeking to overturn the President's decision to sign the NHI Act into law, claiming it should have been referred back to Parliament due to constitutional concerns. However, the President's lawyers argue that such cases fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court as per section 167 (4)(e) of the Constitution.
The High Court is set to hear this jurisdictional dispute in March 2025.
Meanwhile, the National Treasury has allocated nearly R3 billion over the medium term to support NHI roll-out preparations. This funding includes R2.5 billion for an indirect grant to improve healthcare infrastructure and services and R460 million annually for a direct NHI grant aimed at strengthening primary healthcare facilities.
Additional allocations include R112.5 million for patient information systems and R103 million for strategic purchasing of general practitioner services.
Despite ongoing legal challenges from the BHF, Solidarity, and the South African Private Practitioners Forum, the NHI implementation process continues. It focuses on revitalizing healthcare facilities and improving coordination of existing public health resources.
Treasury anticipates moderate growth in health budgets, projecting an increase from R274 billion in 2024/25 to R310.8 billion in 2027/28, reflecting an average annual growth of 4.3%.
This article was compiled from various sources, including:
11 November 2024 | Business Day | NHI Choice of Court Under Attack
11 November 2024 | Timeslive | Ramaphosa attacks BHF’s choice of court for NHI challenge
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