Doctors threaten to close practices if NHI is approved

CENTURION -The NHI bill is awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature to become law.

But doctors and specialists who are part of the Solidarity Doctors’ Network, have announced that they would rather close their practices than work under the government’s National Health Insurance.

READ: NHI Bill faces fierce opposition

Economic Researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, Theuns du Buisson says that the main issue is the lack of freedom for practitioners in the bill.

"There are major concerns are not just funding but the freedom that they are currently granted in the current system which is not saying that the current system is ideal. But the current system does grant medical practitioners in this case mostly doctors and specialists the opportunity to decide whether they would like to be employees, have their own practices or work in the private sector, where else under the NHI they would no longer have those options and they would all  have to work where the state tells them to work," du Buisson explained.