Private South African Hospitals Examine Gesture of Goodwill

July 18 - The private hospital industry in South Afica is considering a gesture of goodwill  - to the tune of  R20 million - towards the government in order to avoid any more conflict, it was announced this week.

The industry, through the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA), is mulling the possibility of covering the government's R20 million legal costs, which have been left largely unpaid, after the government lost a court case against the industry last year.

According to the chairman of HASA, Nkaki Matlala, the gift would be "partly a sign of goodwill but mostly because we don't want to fight with our government."

In the court action brought by the government against the private hospital industry, the issue of pricing regulations was discussed.  The government wanted to implement regulations, but the private hospitals rejected this request, and won the case.

According the Matlala, HASA is not against regulations per se, but wants them to be done in a way that is scientific, lawful and transparent.

The South African government contends that private healthcare is inaccessible to most people because of the high costs.

More Court Action

On the other hand, there is speculation that the private hospital industry is planning to take Health Minister Aaron Mosoaledi to Constitutional Court if he does good on his promise to regulate private health care to control prices and create the basis for a National Health Insurance Scheme over the next fourteen years.

Matlala, however, said that there were no plans to go to court "and we would not be willing to unless pushed."

He said that private hospitals don't generally overcharge, however "there are delinquents among us, and it's those delinquents the minister uses to paint the industry as bad."