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North West to spend R11 million on NHI pilot
15 May 2012 The North West Province will use the R11,5 million special conditional grant to fund the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot in Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District. “The piloting will help us finalise how the service benefits will be designed, how the population will be covered and how the services will be delivered under NH”, Health MEC Dr. Magome Masike said.
Delivering the Department’s R6.9 billion budget at the Provincial Legislature in Mmabatho, MEC Masike said: “Over the years we faced serious challenges caused mainly by a skewed healthcare financing system which results in an increased burden of disease because the majority of the population and those suffering the greatest ill-health cannot access good quality healthcare. With the introduction of the NHI, there will be provision of a package of services that will extend to prevention of diseases and promotion of good health, compliance with quality standards, acceptance of capitation as a method of payment instead of fee for service and appropriate pricing mechanisms”.
Masike said the country is overhauling the healthcare system and improving its management because that is what is needed for the NHI to succeed. “In order to obtain maximum quality under NHI, we need to radically improve the quality of services rendered in our public health facilities”, emphasised the MEC.
“This means massive investment in improvement of health infrastructure, both buildings and equipment. And then, in every single health institution, certain basic core standards must be complied with” he said.
The Persal system is being cleaned so that only critical posts remain. The Department currently has 3394 vacant posts, he said. “Whereas the intention was to fill them during the current financial year, this objective will not be achieved based on personnel expenditure patterns. New policy interventions such as OSD have had far reaching implications on the personnel budget of the department. We have begun the processes of reprioritisation of posts per district with a view to attain equitable budget allocation” MEC Masike said.
In certain instances there will be delay in the filling of posts due to scarce skills; therefore the department is now considering prioritisation of bursary allocation to address scarce skills, he said.
“In increasing our human resource capacity, the department will continue to improve training on nursing, EMRS and medical care to strengthen PHC and health care service delivery towards a well functioning NHI. The Department will this year send 50 more students to study medicine in Cuba. This is a significant increase from the 12 that we sent last year”, he said.
Enquiries:
Tebogo Lekgethwane
Cell: 082 929 9958
E-mail: Tlekgethwane@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: North West Health
15 May 2012
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