House Chairperson,
The ACDP rises today with both gratitude and grave concern. We acknowledge the R277 billion allocated to health this year, with projections rising to R329 billion by 2027/28. Yet, we must ask: will this funding translate into real, measurable, excellent service for all our people?
The ACDP believes government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) is seriously problematic, the concept of which is already driving skilled professionals abroad, whose expertise and research findings uplift all South Africans. Instead of eroding private healthcare, we must find funding for innovation to expand urban and rural access to healthcare while preserving proven systems. The Profmed CEO and Health Funders Association Chairman sees the solution in collaboration: saying we have seen the potential in shared procurement, skills transfer, and strategic funding models that just need scaling.
The ACDP is also troubled by the secretive adoption last month, through the ‘silence acquiescence’ process of the UN, to the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement which compels compliance with their directives during future pandemics, potentially undermining democracy and overriding our national laws. It was previously thrown out but subsequently, the revised version was secretively and deceptively pushed to ensure that it bypassed robust national debate and public scrutiny. We reaffirm that any amendments to the International Health Regulations or the proposed Pandemic Treaty must be subjected to full parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation. The ACDP demands a debate on this subject and a rejection of this agreement that potentially robs us of our sovereign rights.
Chairperson, we welcome the Department’s commitment to employ 1,200 doctors and 200 nurses this year. But this is way too few for a crisis that was long in the making. The public health system lost nearly 9,000 workers last year alone. We cannot continue to treat our healthcare workforce as expendable.
Tensions that have arisen at government clinics fuelled by Operation Dudula’s unlawful actions, must be disapproved. While the ACDP acknowledges that the Constitution guarantees healthcare access to all within our borders, regardless of nationality, we are nevertheless planning to call for a constitutional amendment to section 27 of the Bill of Rights to ensure that all South African citizens get the best professional healthcare possible.
I thank you.
