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Profmed responds to NHI plan

11 Sep 2009

Profmed Medical Scheme plans to welcome the introduction of NHI (National Health Insurance), according to the principle officer, Graham Anderson, but the size, scale and cost of this form of healthcare provision should not be underestimated, he said.

He was responding to the announcement by Deputy Health Minister Dr Molefi Sefularo at the Board of Healthcare Funders annual conference held at Sun City last week that legislation to implement the plan would be in place by April next year.

"The truth is that industry stakeholders have very little to comment on at this point, as no documents have been released into the public domain. But there is stakeholder agreement that changes should be made to the current health funding and delivery systems," he said.

He said that the private sector was mindful of the political pressure on the ANC government to deliver on election promises to introduce NHI and was committed to help with meeting this obligation.

"There are many short term and longer term initiatives where the private sector can assist with expertise to improve the public sector," he said.