Madam Chair, hon members, I thank you for the opportunity to raise the Western Cape's concern and objections to this National Health Laboratory Service Bill. The department of health in the Western Cape has raised concerns around the establishment of the NHLS on numerous occasions. We hope that after the Minister has heard our arguments she will agree with us that the fast-tracking of this Bill will certainly not be in the interests of the people it intends to serve.
We strongly object to the preferred provider status of the NHLS. One of the main motivations of the creation of the NHLS outside the Public Service is a rationalised, efficient and cost-effective service. The NHLS, as a precondition for stimulating efficiency, must open itself to competition, especially in terms of the tariffs it charges and the quality of service it provides. The Western Cape objects to clause 15(1) in terms of which public health sector providers are bound to purchasing their laboratory services from the NHLS. Surely, the word ``must'' should be substituted by the word ``may''.
Regarding provisional management autonomy, the NHLS Bill only makes reference to the national board and the executive management committee. No reference is made to the provincial management structures, powers and functions. This could infringe upon the province's functional or institutional integrity as protected in section 41(1)(g) of the Constitution.
About the transfer of assets to the NHLS, item 7 of the transitional provisions in the schedule to the Bill makes provision for the automatic transfer of movable and immovable assets from the province to the NHLS. It could be argued that these provisions also infringe upon the functional and institutional integrity of the province, as contained in section 41(1)(g) of the Constitution. We feel that legal opinion needs to be sought on the implications, mechanisms and constraints of the transfer of assets from a province to the NHLS.
Furthermore, concerns have been raised about the transfer of designated staff from the province to the NHLS, because negotiations around conditions of service have not been finalised. The interim negotiating forum was suspended before agreement could be reached. The transfer of employees from a province to the NHLS must not commence until there is a properly constituted bargaining chamber, there is agreement and all conditions of service have been defined. The bargaining chamber needs to have all the labour unions represented that will represent the staff of the NHLS.
The range of complexity of these issues cannot be overemphasised. Many of the provisions need to be agreed upon before they can be included in the Bill. The following should be added to item 3 of the schedule of transitional provisions regarding persons transferred from the service of departments: The transfer of employees to the NHLS from provincial and state laboratories must be in terms of section 41 of the Public Service Act of 1994 and section 197 of the Labour Relations Act. The consequences of staff not wanting to be transferred needs to be investigated. This could have serious cost implications because of having to pay the remaining staff within provinces and being forced to buy services from the NHLS.
The Western Cape is concerned about the contravention of the Competition Act, No 89 of 1998. The creation of the NHLS, as the preferred provider of laboratory services to the public sector and as an organisation available to provide services to the private sector, may also contravene the Competition Act. A legal opinion will need to be sought in this regard. Concerning local government as stakeholder, minimal reference is made to local government as a stakeholder. As far as we are aware there has been minimal, if any, consultation with local government structures. However, they are an important user of laboratory services and will become more so with the proposed primary health care devolution of to local government in most provinces.
With reference to clause 18 and funding for the NHLS, any moneys referred to in this clause must not refer to a shift of budgeted funds from the provincial health departments to the NHLS, irrespective of whether these funds are part of the equitable share or conditional grant.
We are aware of the discussions between universities and the NHLS project team around a hybrid model, etc, but want to emphasise the important implications the outcome of these discussions will have on provinces and the existing joint agreements. Therefore, provinces should be included in the discussions. The universities in this province and the NHLS project team have reached a working agreement acceptable to both parties to date.
The above-listed concerns are but some of the major concerns with regard to this NHLS Bill which the NCOP intends to rushing through. We cannot appreciate the national Health Department's ignoring our concerns. Why the haste? This Bill should, in fact, be referred back to the drawing boards. [Interjections.] The Western Cape therefore strongly questions the desirability of this Bill.