Pretoria - The National Association of People Living with HIV and Aids (NAPWA) has welcomed government's budget allocation towards boosting hospital facilities that will see the phasing in of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Speaking to BuaNews after the Budget Speech delivered by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday, NAPWA's Secretary General Nkululeko Nxesi acknowledged government's commitment to implement the NHI, noting that it will have a huge impact on HIV and Aids.
"Strengthening the health system will benefit the country in the fight against HIV, as most people living with HIV are unemployed and have no medical aid, which deprives them access to quality health care," Nxesi said.
However, he was not completely happy as nothing was mentioned in the Budget Speech regarding access to nutrition for people living with HIV and Aids, as 20 percent of one million people on HIV treatment are defaulting due to lack of access to nutrition.
"We would have appreciated it if government had set aside money for food parcels to compliment the treatment. We call on government to look at an HIV and Aids intervention nutrition programme instead of relying on social development's food parcels," he said.
Delivering this year's R979 billion budget, Gordhan announced that government has set aside over R8 billion from the Health Department's budget of R113 billion towards boosting hospital facilities that will lay the foundation for the phasing in of the NHI.
He said R1.2 billion will go towards the introduction of "family heath care teams, R2.9 billion to improve health facilities and medical equipment and R1.4 billion for improved district-based maternal and child health services."
About R1.7 billion has been allocated to the new Health Infrastructure Grant, which will be used to build and maintain health infrastructure. Government envisages that the NHI will be phased in over the next 14 years.
