The conference will provide a platform for all these stakeholders to contribute to the growth and development of the industry by investigating the viability of public private partnerships and the development and implementation of the government's proposed National Health Insurance system (NHI).
Alex van den Heever, adviser to the Registrar of the Council for Medical Schemes, will give a presentation on the economics of National Health Insurance (NHI). Van den Heever has spoken out against the government's NIH proposals, stating that the scheme is not technically feasible. He believes the proposal would cost too much and destroy the healthcare system.
"The major problem is that it's an insurance-based entitlement which is the wrong model for South Africa. Resources should rather be directed at improving the public health system, where government can plan and budget for services."
According to research by Econex, a consultancy group, the government would have to come up with an additional R240 billion a year to cover the costs of the scheme. This is 300 percent more than the R84 billion the government spends on healthcare annually. The study concludes that South Africa would not have these funds available. It would require a 35 percent increase in total tax revenue, which is already more than the R207 billion in budgeted personal income tax and R179 billion budgeted for companies tax.
Mosidi Maboye, a Ministerial Advisory Committee Member on National Health Insurance, will discuss the link between NHI and human resource management. "The South African Constitution's Bill of rights specifies that everyone has the right to access to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare," says Maboye. "The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures to realise these rights."
"It is the responsibility of the government to provide access to healthcare for all South Africans," continues Maboye. "The December 2007 ANC National Conference in Polokwane took a resolution to 'reaffirm the implementation of the National Health Insurance System by strengthening the public health system and ensuring adequate provision of funding. This was to ensure that citizens of the country have access to healthcare."
Maboye's presentation will cover several issues including the South African Health System, policy successes and challenges facing the current health system, the rationale for introducing the National Health Insurance scheme, principles of NHI and human resource development.
Brett Botha, Nedbank Capital's lead principal for infrastructure, will give a presentation on Healthcare Infrastructure Development, which will include public private partnerships (PPPs). Botha points out that PPPs tend to create jobs, and money spent on such projects generates economic growth.
Public private partnerships received a boost this year when President Jacob Zuma celebrated a revitalised partnership between government and the region's primary development finance institutions in his State of the Nation address.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) provided much needed financing for one of the government's priority areas this year, that of healthcare PPPs. The National Treasury allocated R105 billion for national and provincial health spending, and will expand the use of PPPs in the health sector, and engage the public sector in improving the country's healthcare system.
Other conference highlights include a keynote address by the Department of Health on improving healthcare and service delivery; a National Health Insurance framework; the role of associations and other professional bodies in developing National Health Insurance Policy by Dr Martin Sussman of the SA Heart Association; healthcare funding in South Africa by Dr Norman Mabaso, chairperson of the SA Medical Association; a government perspective on PPP legislation by the Department of Health; core healthcare standards; black economic empowerment in the healthcare industry; public private partnerships and black economic empowerment; developing the healthcare industry through IT Development; international perspectives on IT in healthcare; innovations and medical tourism; telemedicine; devices and equipment; hospital management and administration, and medical tourism by the Gauteng Department of Tourism.
The conference runs alongside the Pan African Health Expo, which is the premier event for the broad healthcare community in Southern Africa. The expo will allow manufacturers and distributors of medical equipment and technology to showcase their products with healthcare professionals in attendance, thereby giving an indication of how much the industry has progressed. The 2010 Pan African Health Expo promises to be a comprehensive event encompassing preventative, promotive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare.
Pan African Health takes place alongside the ACSA Disability Trade and Lifestyle Expo, which showcases products and services across the disability spectrum.
Conference contact person: Fuzlin Esau - Fair Consultants. Tel: +27 (0) 21 713 3360; email: moc.stnatlusnocriaf@secnerefnoc. Expo contact person: Justin Maree - Fair Consultants. Tel: +27 (0) 21 713 3360; email: moc.stnatlusnocriaf@nitsuj.
