Parliament, Tuesday, 10 December 2019 – The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Thandi Modise, is leading a Parliament delegation to the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) 46th Plenary Assembly Session that will be held in Swakopmund, Namibia, from the 11th to the 16th of December 2019.
The Theme of the Session is: “Harnessing the power of Parliaments to expand Universal Health Coverage.” The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is broadly aimed at ensuring that all people receive the health services they need, including health initiatives designed to promote better health (anti-tobacco policies) and prevent illness (vaccinations). It also aims to provide treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care of sufficient quality to be effective while at the same time ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardships. Thus, UHC comprises two main components: quality, essential health service coverage, and financial coverage – both extended to the whole population.
Despite this progress in many parts of the world, lack of access to health care continues to be a major concern. Barriers to access take a variety of forms, the most obvious being the fundamental lack of quality health services, but there are also obstacles such as distance to the nearest health facility, restricted opening hours at facilities, or overcrowded facilities that impose long waiting times.
Items on the programme includes a colloquium of Speakers from national Parliaments, a women’s roundtable on gender parity in SADC, a meeting of the Executive Committee plus other Committees, and a symposium on the plenary assembly.
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, on the other hand, is hard at work to produce legislation that will enable the country’s progressive realisation of universal access to quality Health Care for all, as a fundamental human right.
Through the Portfolio Committee on Health, Parliament is undertaking a national programme to consult people and their organisations on the draft National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill published in the government gazette and numerous websites in July 2019. Parliament is committed to execute its constitutional mandate of promoting citizens’ meaningful involvement and participation in law making, oversight over the Executive and other activities.
To achieve these goals, a comprehensive national programme was designed to optimally use all platforms and public engagement opportunities. So far five provinces (namely, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape) have been visited to engage various citizens on this important Bill.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
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