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Facing health challenges.
When I attended the Portfolio Committee on Health last week (29 August 2012), I was struck once again by how much dedication is being shown to solving the health challenges that face our country. It is...
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What next for POPI?
The Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Bill has been one of the most controversial to come before the South African parliament. First introduced in 2009, its clauses sparked protests and...
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Moving a mountain, one stone at a time.
Isn’t it strange how much easier it is for people to believe in doom and gloom than in positive steps in the right direction? There have been many times in my personal and professional life that I have...
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Good News / Bad News from the MRC.
When the Medical Research Council (MRC) presented its report at the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health this week, I was left feeling like I had heard a good news – bad news story. Because I am...
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Teamwork rules!
People who know me know that teamwork is very important to me. It will come as no surprise then that I was really pleased to see the Council for Medical Schemes, the Board of Healthcare Funders and the...
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Counting the effectiveness of vaccinations.
Sometimes the things that are said in the parliamentary portfolio committees are a bit confusing. Just a couple of weeks after the 2011 census results were released, the Department of Health...
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16 days of activism.
This topic affects all of us, all over the world. As you know, we are in the midst of the 16 days of activism against women and child abuse. This campaign was started by the United Nations 15 years...
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Figuring out what needs to be done
Last week, when I opened the newspapers, I found a list of very interesting figures. It is easy to talk in generalisations, but seeing actual figures is the next best thing to putting faces to those...
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Sharing responsibility
An article by Tamar Kahn in the Business Day late last month caught my eye. In it she quoted Department of health director-general, Precious Matsoso, as saying The Mental Health Care Amendment Bill was...
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Where are our health costs going?
If there is one thing that the medical industry in South Africa can agree on, it is that medical bills are too high. The area where agreement fails, however, is in what is driving the high costs and...
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Who cares?
Fraud is a strange thing. How many of us have a very different attitude to fraud and corruption on a government or corporate level, but turn the proverbial blind eye to our own transgressions? Those...
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We need a social compact
Readers of this blog will see me talking increasingly of the need for a social compact, especially with reference to the Department of Health’s 10-point plan, and NHI in particular. So what is a social...
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Parliament at work
Today is going to be a busy day for the Portfolio Committee on Health in Parliament, and certainly one worth watching for those of us who are interested in health in our country. The Annual Performance...
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What are you doing about the health of the nation?
There have been some rumblings in the media lately about the Department of Health’s perceived lack of communication with the private sector about the impact of the proposed NHI. I have been approached...
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Health care costs in the spotlight
I was interested to see in the press recently that the Competition Commission is launching an inquiry into the costs of private health care. Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel’s announcement...
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CMS annual report gives the good and bad news.
The Council for Medical Schemes released its annual report in Cape Town this week, and it made for some very interesting reading. It turns out that despite a final surplus of R3.7 billion, most schemes...
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Is Universal Care the foundation of best health outcomes for a nation?
I have for some time being exploring and trying to find the ideal and most effective International health care systems. To me such a system would meet the R.A.C.E. criteria namely:- Rational...
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Good news from the North West
The North West Province has been in the news for a number of reasons this year, not all of them good. Bearing that in mind, I was heartened to be present when Monwabisi Goqwana, Chairman of the...
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Lies, damned lies and statistics *
I am sure that many of you would have seen the story in the Times which quoted the statistician-general, Pali Lehohla, as saying that white people in South Africa suffered from hypertension because...
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NHI parallels in Namibia
This past week I had the opportunity to take part in a Namibian healthcare conference, the 7th Annual Namaf Conference, held in Windhoek. This is my blog, so occasionally I can be allowed the...
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