The corruption and capture exposed by the Special Investigating Unit at Tembisa Hospital should not be used as a justification to deny South Africans universal health coverage, the health minister insists.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has poured cold water on suggestions that the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme will be vulnerable to State Capture, insisting that structural changes to funding and procurement will safeguard the system.
His comments come two months after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) exposed widespread corruption, maladministration and procurement fraud at Tembisa Hospital. The SIU revealed that three major syndicates were involved in the looting of more than R2-billion in public funds, intensifying fears that the NHI could face similar risks.
"Nobody accepts what happened in Tembisa Hospital. We are actually very angry. That is why between me and [the] SIU we have agreed that we must at least regain at least 90% of the money that was lost as a minimum," he said in an interview with Daily Maverick this week.
Motsoaledi acknowledged the failures exposed at Tembisa but argued that the current healthcare system enables abuse because provinces act as both funders and providers.
"At present, why the system is not working is because, as a province, I am a funder and a provider at the same time. It means I fund what I provide. Whether what I provide is nonsense or not, I still...
