Minister, this is quite frankly a dereliction of your constitutional obligation and your responsibility to the people of this country. With much concern we are aware that there are provinces are yet to be fully engaged with what will be expected of them with the roll-out of the NHI. There has never been a constructive discussion about this legislation at the National Health Council with the nine provincial MECs and their Heads of Department.
To add insult to injury, over the medium-term budget there has been a R9 billion reduction in the investment of primary healthcare which is the real interface with our communities. Any legislation that
will see the improvement of a health system needs to do so from the bottom up and that needs to start at the primary healthcare level and not in the corridors of Luthuli House.
Minister, what is clear to me is that you are here to fight for the ANC and an ideological win. On the other hand, DA is here fighting for the people of this country. [Applause.] Nationalisation of healthcare will not bring about dignity to the millions who depend on public healthcare. The road to universal healthcare does not have to be paved with fundamentally bad policy proposals. South Africa can have universal healthcare that will see the entire system transformed so that it can serve the people who have been left behind for 25 years.
Under the DA health plan, people would not need to wait up to 15 years for their lives to improve. They would not need to wit for billions of rands that we do not have in order for them to have access to good health. The DA would roll out universal healthcare in five to eight years.