Primary healthcare key for NHI

Media Release

August 2024

RMB: Primary healthcare an effective & key priority for SA while NHI takes shape

RMB has today called for further implementation of affordable primary healthcare to bridge the gap between people's immediate needs and the eventual implementation of the NHI - while helping retain doctors in the country.

Liza Eustace, Sector Head for Healthcare, Hospitality and Services at RMB said: “The most effective way of bridging the gap between now and the NHI in its proposed form is to focus on improving primary healthcare (PHC) access and quality through the increased application of private and public partnerships (PPP). We need it to reduce the load on the public sector, and we need it to prevent serious illness before it's too late.”

“The public healthcare sector is heavily burdened and under resourced. We need to find solutions to achieve increased access to quality healthcare at an affordable price point whilst creating capacity at the public hospitals for those that require it. Early detection of illness will reduce acute admission rates freeing up capacity in the system.”

Eustace noted that population wellness is linked to economic growth. Improved health outcomes lead to increased productivity and reduced absenteeism from work. 

“There is a huge cost associated with an un-well working class.

“Early intervention and prevention through primary healthcare contributes to lower mortality rates, especially among vulnerable populations.

“It also helps with disease prevention and leads to longer, healthier lives through increased disease and maternity screenings, regular vaccination schedules as well as the roll out of basic radiology and pathology services.

“In South Africa, primary healthcare interventions are particularly effective at preventing the spread of communicable diseases and serious complications.”

While primary healthcare has shown significant benefits in South Africa, it is an auspicious time to ramp it up. Dischem has a model of rolling out primary healthcare in their stores complemented by the roll out of affordable medical insurance products.

Unjani Clinic offers quality affordable and accessible healthcare services to communities across South Africa. They are owned and run by professional nurses and create much needed employment in our communities.

More can be done.

“Now is the time to introduce public private partnerships which have an increasingly encouraging outcome in South Africa,” Eustace said, noting the track record in PPP in energy supply and the imminent addressing of Transnet's logistics challenges.

“In addition, the Department of Health (DoH) and the SA Government have a track record of partnership and collaboration in the largest rollout of antiretroviral medicine globally. Nearly five million South Africans are on the programme saving countless lives.

“Similarly, we believe that collaboration and partnership around primary healthcare can achieve similar results. PHC is a foundational pillar in population wellness. If successfully delivered on scale across SA, it will reduce the burden on public hospitalisations, costly treatments and unnecessary deaths.

“And with more primary healthcare it will provide stability and sustainability for the medical profession thereby helping with retention of doctors in the country which is critical. It will also create jobs for support, admin, cleaning, security and logistics personnel,” Eustace said.

She added the ongoing challenge for government and the private sector is to work together to create more primary healthcare access points in all parts of the country, closer to communities, and provide a platform for a more sustainable provision of care.

“Tactics such as bulk buying efficiency, a focus on value-based care, outcomes-based care, and the use of clinical data to help track and proactively prevent communicable diseases are fundamental to success. And one of the biggest benefits of working together is the skills transfer in management contracts from the private to the public sector, “Eustace concluded.

ENDS