NHI: Will procurement bill provisions mitigate corruption? New Report
19 July 2023
The recent passage of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill by the National Assembly. The NHI Bill, after twelve years in construction, represents a significant milestone in achieving universal healthcare coverage for all South Africans. However, concerns have been raised regarding the governance arrangements of the fund. This some critics have argued would make the fund susceptible to corruption that would undermine its stated intent.
The Zondo commission found that procurement regulations were abused to bypass competitive bidding processes. This was done to enable the awarding of contracts to politically connected individuals and companies with no value for money. So while the centralisation of purchasing of health care services by the NHI comes with its own risks, state capture demonstrated how excessive decentralisation of the procurement process enabled abuse by corrupt public officials (Zondo, 2022).
As a schedule 3 public entity the proposed NHI Fund will be subject to the public finance management act. To ensure that corruption risk is effectively managed it is essential that public procurement management and oversight is strengthened. To better understand the extent to which the proposed public procurement bill could facilitate this RHAP commissioned a review of the bill. It also reviewed the extent to which the bill could impact rural healthcare delivery.
Join RHAP at the launch of a report titled Procurement and Audit Outcomes in the South African Health Sector. The discussion will be on NHI, answering the question: Are the public procurement bill provisions enough to mitigate corruption risk? The webinar will host esteemed academics and activists from the health, social, and economic fields. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue and contribute to the discourse on improving healthcare access and outcomes for rural communities.
We invite all media representatives, health experts, and concerned citizens to join us at this significant event. Together, we can work towards ensuring that the NHI Bill’s vision of universal healthcare encompasses rural populations’ unique needs.
Members of the media are invited to join the webinar:
Date: Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvdOippj0oHNLybWLrOwLpGUqzTaoThwqA#/registration
Media enquires
Phemelo Khaas Phemelo.Khaas@rhap.org.za 0837633472