Pretoria - Following the release of the Green Paper on the National Health Insurance (NHI), the community of Maphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal has been given an opportunity to participate in discussions and voice their views on the matter.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, will on Thursday take the discussion to the rural community as he will hand over building extensions worth R14 million to Mbhekaphansi Clinic during an event to be held in Mathafeni Sports Ground.
Dhlomo said the public's views and wishes must be expressed in the final document on NHI, pointing out that rural communities were major clients in the public health sector.
"I believe that if they are not allowed to express their views, the whole process will have failed the key people whose health needs it seeks to address."
NHI is a financing system that will ensure the provision of essential healthcare to all citizens of South Africa, regardless of their employment status and ability to make a direct monetary contribution to the NHI fund.
The Green Paper on the NHI, which is expected to get rolling in April 2012 as a pilot project for the next five years, was released in August for public comment.
Meanwhile, Dhlomo will later today visit scholars in the Mkhambathini area, where he will encourage learners to study towards health related professions. He will also congratulate those who have successfully been selected to study towards nursing and medicine.
Last year, Dhlomo visited the area to meet with matrics and encouraged them to do well in their examinations. He also urged them to consider health related professions as professions of choice.
Dhlomo is going back to the area to meet learners who have been successfully selected for nurse training. He will also join leaners at Madlanyoka High School as they bid farewell to former scholar, Manqoba Fana Mngadi, 19, who will be leaving for Cuba to study medicine.
Mngadi completed his matric in 2010 at the school and was selected to do his medical studies through the South Africa -Cuba Joint Academic Programme. - BuaNews
