Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the government will proceed with preparatory work for the NHI despite criticism.
Image: Bongani Shilubane / Independent Newspapers
ANC MPs have called out the DA for being pale, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told DA's George Michalakis to see a psychologist because NHI would be implemented, while Cameron Dugmore said the DA lied about the BELA Act being anti-Afrikaans.
The remarks were made during a charged State of Nation Address (SONA) debate at the Cape Town City Hall on Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his SONA last week. This was his first address under the Government of National Unity (GNU), the 7th administration.
Motsoaledi's comments come after Michalakis criticised the health minister for pushing National Health Insurance despite the grand coalition partners remaining in disagreement over the Bill.
He even said he was tired of hearing about the insurance fund.
Responding to this, Motsoaledi said the government would proceed with preparatory work for the NHI.
He stressed that the insurance was about money and designated for all and not for a certain group.
“The first one is that all people receive quality healthcare and all means all regardless of how poor you are; it means all.
"The second dimension is that when you receive that quality health care, you must not suffer financial hardship or what the World Health Organization called catastrophic health care expenditure,” he said.
“NHI is about money. It's about how money is distributed to the whole population. It's about how much its citizens get for the provision of their health care system."
The minister quoted the former director general of the health organisation, Dr. Margaret Chang from Hong Kong that “NHI is an equaliser between the rich and the poor”.
He said that was the reason rich people in South Africa had a problem with it.
Motsoaledi said the same thing goes for the Expropriation Act as well as the Bela Act.
Dugmore also told the DA that their story about the BELA Act was a "lieg storie" (lie).
Zille and the DA argued and accused the government for attempting to wipe out Afrikaans at schools by signing the Bela Act.
According to Dugmore, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille previously mentioned that expropriation of land could conceivably be without compensation.
"She turns [on the Expropriation Act] because AfriForum and (US President Donald) Trump support her," he said.
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