Certificate of Need conversation

GUESTS: RUSSELL RENSBURG - health activist and Director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project   DR KGOSI LETLAPE - Action SA MP and Founder of the African Medical Association       ActionSA Welcomes Court Ruling Declaring Sections of Health Act Unconstitutional    25TH JULY 2024       ActionSA welcomes the Gauteng High Court's declaration that Sections 36 to 40 of the National Health Act are invalid and unconstitutional.   ActionSA believes that Sections 36 to 40 was unjust in that it sought to require that health care practitioners had to first obtain a certificate of need (CoN) from the Health Department before they could establish a practice in a specific area.     At its core, the attempt to overburden healthcare practitioners with a cumbersome bureaucracy centred in the already constrained Department of Health was rightly ruled invalid by Judge Anthony Miller. Therefore, ActionSA wholly welcomes the court's intervention, which ensures that we uphold the rights of healthcare practitioners, allowing them to operate without the weight of an overbearing bureaucracy.   What is undoubtedly a blow to the National Health Insurance (NHI), the court's ruling adds creditability to the already lengthy list of concerns about the NHI. ActionSA has long argued that NHI, while well-intentioned, is ill-conceived and will not address the shortcomings of the healthcare system in South Africa.   Importantly, ActionSA contends that NHI will merely add a third tier to the existing public and private healthcare systems, creating a loophole for budgetary