House Chairperson, South Africa is one of the countries that spends the most spends the most on healthcare, with an accumulative budget of over R222 billion across all departments and its entities. One would think a department with a budget this large would be delivering the very least an adequate level of care. But all of us in this House know this not to be true. This is confirmed by the poor health outcomes of the majority of provinces and lived experiences of the people that we are meant to serve.
IsiXhosa:
Emva kweminyaka engama-25 safumana inkululeko kusekho abantu abajikiswayo kwiiklinikhi zethu apho bamele ukuba bafumana uncedo khona. Khusekho oomama abazibona sebebelekela ebumnyameni kwizibhedlela kukhanyiswe ngeethotshi zoonomyayi kuba kungekho mbane.
English:
There are still hundreds who died in unlicensed NGOs during the Life Healthcare Esidimeni tragedy and thousands who were sentenced to death by a completely preventable oncology crisis as was the case in Kwa-Zulu Natal, under Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo's leadership. This is the direct result of poor policy and no consequence management for provincial departments that underspent and embezzled public money and the sheer lack of excellence driven leadership at the political level.
Yesterday, the Cabinet announced that the National Health Insurance, NHI Bill will be approved and will be later presented to Parliament. It is unclear whether costing has finally been done and whether in its finalisation, the lessons from the failed pilot projects have been taken on board. This Bill came at an initial price tag of R259 billion and the previous Minister admitted that this was a thumb suck.
The legislation will see the nationalisation of healthcare, the creation of a state. owned-enterprise which will be the perfect breeding ground for mass corruption and slow delivery of care. The NHI pilot projects across the country have failed in a spectacular
fashion. As such the Minister and his predecessor have set on a report that will give a fair assessment on his project.
When I asked the Minister last week about this report he simply said he does not care what it says. He said it does not matter how much the Bill will cost to implement. This government will simply push ahead. [Interjections.]