Motsoaledi welcomes probe into private healthcare

He made a strong case for the regulation of private healthcare costs in SA. The success of the National Health Insurance system depended on an improved and overhauled public healthcare system and the regulation of private healthcare costs.

Dr Motsoaledi addressed the 6th annual conference of the competition authorities and the Mandela Institute at the Johannesburg University‚ stating that although SA spent more than most of the Brics countries on healthcare - the outcomes in Brazil‚ Russia‚ India and China - were far better than that in SA.

The Competition Commission had already done preliminary research into the private health care market to determine the terms of reference for such the market inquiry.

Dr Motsoaledi harshly criticised recent research that indicated the spiraling cost of private health care could be attributed to people getting older and sicker and therefore there was greater utilisation of hospitals. This kind of research would be laughable if it was not so tragic‚ he said.

He said it was most disappointing that stakeholders in SA were exonerating themselves from the problems facing healthcare in SA. He said there was a growing culture where people thought if they were not to blame‚ they were not obliged to offer solutions.

The problem in SA was concentration in the hospital market‚ little appreciation of primary healthcare and uncontrolled commercialism.

After 18 years of democracy - the country still had a fragmented healthcare system where there existed a public sector system for the poor and a private health care system for the rich and powerful.

Dr Motsoaledi said he wanted no finger-pointing but admitted the deteriorating quality of care in the public sector. He said the lack of basic essentials in the public sector was also caused by uncontrolled commercialism.

"Tenders comes first and healthcare comes last. I have a few solutions to put a stop to this‚" he said.