HEALTH-E: Should Aaron Motsoaledi stay on as health minister? By Kerry Cullinan
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is a courageous leader, emotional and passionate about trying to improve the lives of ordinary people. He has taken on pharmaceutical companies, describing their opposition to more consumer-friendly medicine patent laws as “genocide”.
But after a decade of Motsoaledi’s leadership, the health service shows no signs of improving and the National Health Insurance scheme, the vehicle that is supposed to drive South Africans’ access to universal health care, remains on blocks parked in the Presidency. Only five of the nearly 700 public health facilities that it inspected achieved a pass , with facilities in Limpopo and Eastern Cape scoring 43% on average.
But the national government’s only real recourse to protect citizens from weak and spendthrift provincial departments has been to place them under administration in terms of Section 100 of the Constitution. Between the health department and the Treasury, South Africa has negotiated the cheapest ARVs in the world – and last week the health department managed to persuade the US not to cut its fundingBut in the next five years, the government is going to need to make real progress in introducing universal healthcare. Its chosen plan is the National Health Insurance scheme, which will be compulsory for all workers and aims to offer every person in the country the same basic healthcare.
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