Parliament, Friday, 25 October 2019 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, told the residents of Nkomazi in Mpumalanga today, that the committee is there to listen to what the people on the ground say on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.
Making opening remarks and the purpose of the hearings to a gathering of a mixture of young and old people who came from all the communities of Nkomazi Local Municipality, Dr Dhlomo said: “We need to listen to what South Africans want regarding the (NHI) Bill.”
The public hearings that have commenced on the Bill at Nkomazi Local Municipality in Tonga today, mark the beginning of the hearings that are going to take place in all the provinces.
The people of Nkomazi complained about the lack of service delivery in their community and called upon the government to improve public health infrastructure. They used the public hearings platform to highlight their frustration on the state of health care services at Nkomazi Local Municipality.
They welcomed the Bill in their oral submissions, saying that it is going to assist them. The people reiterated in their oral submissions the call for the improvement and capacitation of the existing health facilities to ensure the provision of efficient and quality health services.
The people of Nkomazi told the committee that non-documented foreign nationals will not be covered by the Bill, and that is something that the committee needs to look into and address.
The objective of the Bill is to achieve universal access to quality health care services in South Africa in accordance with section 27 of the Constitution, to establish a National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and to set out its powers, functions and governance structures, and to provide a framework for the strategic purchasing of health care services by the Fund on behalf of users.
The committee called for written submissions from the public on the Bill at the beginning of September 2019, and the closing date for submissions is 29 November 2019.
The hearings will continue tomorrow, 26 October 2019 in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality at the World of Life Bible Church at 10:00am
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, DR SIBONGISENI DHLOMO.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Ms Yoliswa Landu
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8203
Cell: 081 497 4694
E-mail: ylandu@parliament.gov.za
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