SAMA says NHI won’t solve problems

JOHANNESBURG - The SA Medical Association says the NHI Bill lacks clarity.

It's now waiting for regulations to be published.

SAMA says as it stands, the legislation is not clear on how problems in the health sector will be dealt with.

READ: Phaahla: NHI Bill lays foundation for healthcare reform

The National Assembly passed the Bill on Tuesday.

Essentially, it seeks to create a unified and improved health service available for all South Africans.

"There are so many issues that still need to be rectified there, for example, we need not focus on finance," said SAMA's Mvuyisi Mzukwa.

READ: National Assembly passes National Health Insurance Bill

"We need to think deeply about leadership and governance, we need to think about many other issues that are affecting the healthcare sector, for example, the dire shortage of healthcare workers.

"We were sitting at 30% of the workforce and we can't rely solely on NHI which is going to purchase services and not build hospitals, not going to employ healthcare workers and that's not going to bring medicines," he said.

"So there are so many issues that we need to think about when we talk NHI."