The contentious National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which the National Assembly, the first house of Parliament, thinks would “achieve universal access to quality health-care services” in South Africa, was recently passed.
Ensuring that every South African receives an equal share of a failing public health-care system will be the main aim of the NHI Bill.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought to light South Africa’s starkly divided health system, which is made up of an increasingly dysfunctional public sector that serves between 65% and 80% of the country’s population, and a private sector that serves the 10% to 15% of people who pay for private medical care