Tag: National Health Act

The Certificate of Need (CON) provisions in the National Health Act 2003 will require doctors to apply for CONs for everything they do and plan to do, including opening a practice and medical equipment they want to use.

In June 2022, the Pretoria High Court declared the certificate-of-need (CON) provisions in the 2003 National Health Act to be invalid. Although this matter has received little attention in the press, the implications are far reaching for government’s proposed health reforms.

The pandemic has put a significant strain on all industry sectors none more so than in healthcare where there was a need to adopt more data-driven planning and decision-making at lightning speed. At a time when expanding remote care, telemedicine, and m-health initiatives have become the order of the day, the spotlight has turned to the safeguarding of sensitive information at a scale comparable to the financial services sector.

We oppose various recent government initiatives to prolong COVID-19 lockdown measures. All such measures must be scrapped and a return to the pre-March 2020 legal position must be expedited. South Africans have waited patiently for too long to see constitutional government and their civil liberties restored.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 10 February 2022 highlighted some key issues requiring attention. Most notable were his commitment to cut red tape constraining business, to boost infrastructure investment and to continue with reform.

We now have the next (and final?) edition of the National Health Insurance Bill which, aspirationally and inspirationally, seeks to achieve universal access to quality healthcare services in the Republic of South Africa in accordance with section 27 of the Constitution.

A draft National Health Amendment Bill is to be introduced to parliament that will explicitly allow for living wills to be recognised and enforced.