Adjacent to attempts by the ANC to implement property expropriation without compensation (EWC), the National Health Insurance (NHI) represents the most significant and far-reaching official policy proposal contemplated during South Africa’s democratic era.
The modern democratic era has witnessed a health policy process with a variety of inquiries, new health proposals, and new legislation, although broadly speaking it can ideologically be split into two eras, the first from 1994 to 2007 and then from 2008 onwards.
In 2013, the health department established the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC), a body that routinely measures compliance by public health establishments against best practice clinical and management standards.
This fourth article of five provides a high-level overview of the private health sector, a substantial and well-established industry generally delivering high quality care across the spectrum of clinical categories.
South Africa’s public health system is perceived poorly by many and routinely attracts negative press coverage over its numerous failures, but it nonetheless remains a substantial and important national asset, relied upon by over 80% of citizens.
