2013
Young health researchers add their voices to global initiative, January 2013
NHI will not need extra tax for funding – at present , February 2013
THE government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) rollout, specifically to the 10 provincial pilot sites, was the focus of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Budget speech. However, while commentators welcomed the renewed focus on NHI, they wanted to hear more on rooting out failures and corruption within the health system….CAPE TIMES
2012
Young health researchers add their voices to global initiative, January 2013
As exciting as it is to be working as an academic in an emerging field, it can be geographically challenging for young researchers to collaborate and network with other young and mid- level researchers in their chosen field. In the emerging field of Health Policy & Systems Research and Analysis (HPSR+A) these challenges are addressed by a programme led by Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine’s Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH)…..UCT News Online
McIntyre elected to IOM, November 2012
UCT’s Professor Di McIntyre has been named as a foreign associate to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the health arm of the US’s National Academy of Sciences….UCT Monday Paper
Many too poor to access free health services, October 2012
Many South Africans are too poor to access free healthcare provided by the state, mostly due to the cost of transport….HEALTH-E NEWS SERVICE
Pay more for less benefit? July 2012
Private medical insurance is a luxury less than one in five (16 percent) of South Africans can afford, and it is not getting any cheaper. Studies reveal that in 1981 a household with one working member paid about 7 percent of its income to medical scheme contributions. By 1991 this had increased to 14 percent, rising further to 20 percent by 2001, and 30 percent by 2007…..Read more
Treasury need to come to NHI party: McIntyre, 6 July 2012
There is going to be a “serious fight to get what we want in our health system” and while the National Health Insurance (NHI) Green Paper was steering matters in the right direction health care delivery can’t go from “horrible to wonderful” overnight, health economist Professor Di McIntyre cautioned….HEALTH-E NEWS SERVICE
‘Major battles’ on cards for SA’s NHI, 6 July 2012
There could be “major battles” when it comes to hashing out the details of SA’s proposed National Health Insurance, says Di McIntyre, a researcher at the health economics unit at UCT…..BUSINESS REPORT
On Malawi’s health financing system, 1 Feb 2012
Universal coverage implies guaranteeing access to appropriate mix of health services (preventive, curative and rehabilitative) care to all citizens at an affordable cost….THE NATION
Universal health coverage still rare in Africa, February 2012
Six years after the World Health Assembly urged African nations to abandon health care user fees, which were driving people into poverty, in favour of some manner of national health insurance schemes, only two nations are providing universal coverage for at least a majority of their residents….CAMJ
2011
With a green paper released for public consultation, role-players and citizens have, for the first time, some concrete information as to how the South Africa health-care landscape is going to be transformed….PRETORIA NEWS
Can South Africa afford not to have a NHI? 22 August 2011
Misinformed scaremongering seems to have been the order of the day since the release of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Green Paper. South Africans have been subjected to a barrage of reports about how the proposed NHI is unaffordable, how it will increase the cost of labour and will push the economy into recession…HEALTH-E NEWS SERVICE
Ethical victory in healthcare for all, 19 August 2011
I am visiting the University of Cape Town from Australia – this is the fourth consecutive year I have come to this physically beautiful city – and I see in the media recently all sorts of comments on the proposed NHI. These comments are all almost hostile. But then these comments do not come from all sorts of people…..HEALTH-E NEWS SERVICE
New Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RESYST) Consortium, March 2011
The first annual management planning meeting of the new Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RESYST) consortium, funded by DfID (Department for International Development), was held in Cape Town from 11th to 15th April 2011. RESYST will undertake health policy and systems research (with a focus on financing, health workers and governance) in a set of African and Asian settings, including India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania and Vietnam…..UCT Faculty of Health Sciences newsletter
Blending faith and health to improve wellbeing, March 2011
During a four-day launch, the School of Public Health & Family Medicine (SOPH) welcomed a new partnership with the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP) – to be known as the International Religious Health Assets Programme (IRHAP). This research network works at the interface of religion and public health, to promote sustainable health among poor communities, especially in Africa, and includes a particular focus on the role of religious health assets within health systems……UCT Monday Paper
HEU awarded 5-year EU grant, March 2011
Providing health services to all persons in need of health care in a way that does not put them at risk of financial catastrophe requires a major redesign of health care financing policy. While each country is taking a different approach (South Africa is proposing a universal system which is largely tax funded while Tanzania is proposing a system which combines mandatory insurance for formal sector workers and community-based schemes for the informal sector), both are still at the challenging stage of policy formulation….UCT Faculty of Health Sciences News Online
Network to boost health policy work, February 2011
The School of Public Health & Family Medicine’s Health Policy and Systems (HPS) programme has secured R18 million for an Africa-Europe network to support capacity development in health policy and systems analysis……UCT Daily News Online
2010
Healthcare is a moral obligation, October 2010
The surprise release of the ANC’s discussion document on the proposed National Health Insurance scheme has again opened up the deep and disturbing economic divisions that persist in South Africa…HEALTH-E NEWS SERVICE
National health to cost quarter of GDP, 7 October 2010
The government may have to spend as much as a quarter of South Africa’s GDP on the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme if it is to become a reality, a UCT study has revealed….CAPE ARGUS
The prescription health care really needs, 6 October 2010
Eighteen years ago my first child was born in a government hospital, Johannesburg General. It’s unimaginable that I would make the same choice today. Anyone with the resources now rushes into the competent and expensive bosom of the private medical system….CAPE ARGUS
Raising taxes to pay for NHI ‘premature’, 6 October 2010
Before the government considers raising taxes to pay for national health insurance (NHI), it should meet its own promise to allocate 15% of its budget to health…….BUSINESS DAY
Is NHI feasible? 5 October 2010
Universal health coverage, or National Health Insurance, is affordable and would have the greatest spin off for the vast majority of South Africans who do and will increasingly rely on the state health sector, a University of Cape Town modeling initiative has revealed…HEALTH-E
‘NHI plan cheapest in long run’, 5 October 2010
The proposed national health insurance scheme would require a substantial increase in public spending and could increase the income tax burden of the highest earners from about 41% to 45%…..THE TIMES
DOUGLAS RAMAPHOSA: Working together to make the NHI succeed, 5 October 2010
THE African National Congress (ANC) has announced plans to take its National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme forward and has given us a hint of what the health industry will look like from 2012…BUSINESS DAY
CEO says it won’t lose members over NHI, 4 October 2010
Momentum CEO Anthon Swart said: “Research shows that all over the world where NHIs are put into place there is always a certain percentage that will opt for private healthcare.” Swart said that in South Africa the percentage of private medical aid members had risen above that figure: “In South Africa, it’s gone up in the past two years to between 16% and 17%.”….THE TIMES
Experts attack NHI plan, 2 October 2010
The ANC’s proposal for a National Health Insurance has a very unusual design, says a top health economist. But can a head office based in Pretoria have an impact on the poorest of the poor?….CAPE ARGUS
A call for frank public debate, 30 September 2010
Since the ANC’s announcement last week that a national health insurance (NHI) will be pursued, we have once again seen claims that an NHI is unaffordable and that the whole idea should be consigned to the garbage bin. However, South Africa can have a health system that makes us proud and serves everyone, rich and poor, in an equitable manner….HEALTH-E. A version of this article was also published in other newspapers, such as The Mercury, The Witness and the Cape Times.
An NHI to really reverse the rot, 23 September 2010
THE African National Congress’s (ANC’s) proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme is starting to take shape and, as predicted, practical considerations have forced its architects to tone down their ambitions, particularly with regard to the time line….BUSINESS DAY
ANC’s NHI raises dilemma for healthcare costs, 23 September 2010
Prof Di McIntyre’s research goes to an issue confronting many families and employers as the African National Congress (ANC) pushes ahead with plans to introduce NHI….BUSINESS DAY
ANC aims to implement NHI in 2012, September 2010
NHI will kick off in 2012 and be implemented over a period of 14 years, African National Congress (ANC) health sub-committee chairperson Zweli Mkhize told journalists at the ANC national general council (NGC) in Durban on Tuesday….MAIL & GUARDIAN
NHI will cost same as current healthcare, September 2010
The latest research from the University of Cape Town’s health economics unit has found that spending on the national health insurance system (NHI) would roughly match what government currently spends on healthcare….MAIL & GUARDIAN
New award encourages young medical scientists, August 2010
Young medical researchers were honoured for their outstanding output at the first Best Publication Awards held by UCT’s School of Medicine on 26 July. Opening the ceremony, deputy dean Emeritus Professor Greg Hussey said that he hoped the awards would become a regular event, and would encourage and retain young researchers at the faculty….UCT MONDAY PAPER
The intolerably brutal equation faced by SA’s ill, 25 May 2010
THE entrance to the state hospital was reminiscent of a street market. There were vendors aplenty, selling anything from boerewors rolls to vuvuzelas and football shirts. There were also taxis aplenty and clearly transporting the sick and injured to and from the hospital was good business. Taxis were also making a mint out of transporting loved ones to and from the hospital — to the extent that the area immediately in front of the entrance, ostensibly protected by yellow lines, was a crush of vehicles jostling for the best spot, closest to the doors….BUSINESS DAY
Eastern Cape: Health system reform debated, 24 May 2010
Drug shortages and lack of ambulances emerged as some of the most pressing health system issues in the Eastern Cape following a recent meeting of community based organisations. Organised by the Black Sash in partnership with the University of Cape Town’s Health Economics Unit and Health-e News Service, the provincial health workshops will travel to all provinces in South Africa culminating in a report which will be shared with Government once public consultations are held on National Health Insurance (NHI)…….Health-e News
Eastern Cape health conference – have your say, 29 April 2010
There has been a lot of talk about health system reform, including the National Health Insurance (NHI) system. But the voices of ordinary people who use the government clinics and hospitals every day are missing. The Black Sash, University of Cape Town Health Economics Unit and Health-e are hosting the first provincial health conference in Port Elizabeth to make sure the voices of communities are heard…..HEALTH-E
HEU celebrates 20 years of research, teaching and policy contributions, 26 April 2010
Health economics is more about saving and improving lives than about Rands and cents, Dr Susan Cleary said at the Health Economics Unit’s 20th anniversary celebration last week. Cleary is the head of the HEU, which is widely recognised as the leading health economics institution in Africa and one of the most well-established and respected medical units in low- and middle-income countries…….UCT Monday Paper
Examining the early and late costs of ARV treatment, January 2010
An important new study on AIDS treatment in the private sector in Southern Africa examines what drives up costs in HIV management – and many of these findings also apply to the public sector. The researchers analysed the direct costs in treating more than 10 000 “HIV-infected adults are enrolled in managed care programmes” from three years before ARV initiation up to five years afterwards and the results are published in the current issue of PLos Medicine….blogs.timeslive.co.za
Earlier treatment averting higher medical costs in South African cohort, January 2010
Starting treatment earlier, at a higher CD4 count, and being in care six months or longer before starting ART, is associated with lower treatment costs during the first months of antiretroviral treatment, according to an analysis of the direct health care costs of treating over 10,000 HIV-infected adults in a private HIV care programme in southern Africa, published in the December 1 edition of PLoS Medicine….Aidsmap
2009
Quality and affordability an NHI must, 2 December 2009
The implementation of National Health Insurance could help South Africa achieve the millenium development goals, but to succeed it would have to be an affordable and quality public health service……DAILY NEWS
The Mercury: ANC needs to clarify health insurance plan, 2 December 2009
A universal health system would benefit both the poor and the rich, as medical aid schemes were becoming increasingly expensive….THE MERCURY
Press release: Information sheets explain health care financing in simple terms, 11 November 2009
Medical scheme members, particularly those who earn the lowest income, carry the greatest burden in funding health services. And lower-income medical scheme members contribute a higher percentage of their income than do higher-income members.These are just two facts about health care financing explained in “Who Pays for Health Care in South Africa?” – one of four new information sheets compiled by the Health Economics Unit (HEU) at UCT and released last week….READ FULL RELEASE
NHI is a boost to health, 9 November 2009
The ANC proposed national health insurance (NHI) as seen through the ideological lense by Jasson Urbach of the Free Market Foundation in the Sowetan of 21 October 2009, which he labels a “threat to health,” is nothing but a scare tactic designed to persuade the public and policy makers to abandon the idea of implementing it….Health-e News
The Minister of Health has issued a statement on the appointment of a ministerial advisory committee on the National Health Insurance.
Di McIntyre, professor at HEU has been appointed, along with others, including Dr Olive Shisana, CEO of the Human Science Research Council (HSRC); Mr Mark Heywood, executive director of the AIDS Law Project (ALP). To see the full list of committee members, click here.
Advisory body to drive talks on health insurance scheme ‘finalised’, 5 November 2009
AN ADVISORY body to drive consultation on the government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme has been finalised and is expected to be announced soon by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. It is understood that the Human Sciences Research Council’s Olive Shisana, Treatment Action Campaign’s Mark Heywood and academic Di McIntyre are among those who will serve on the body……BUSINESS DAY
NHI coming: accept and embrace the challenge! October 2009
An NHI can help lo build a fairer,more united society. And this better, more decent society cannot be built overnight, just as an NHI cannot be created in just a year or two……..Health Management Review Africa
First social responsiveness award winners announced, 26 October 2009
Projects on disaster mitigation, gender violence and healthcare financing have won UCT’s first Social Responsiveness Awards…MONDAY PAPER
Poll favours state health insurance, if quality guaranteed, 22 October 2009
South Africans are willing to pay for national health insurance (NHI), but only if they are guaranteed quality services, a new survey shows. The study, commissioned by the Department of Health and published this month in the South African Medical Journal, offers important insights into public perceptions of NHI…. BUSINESS DAY
(Article based on: MCINTYRE, D., GOUDGE, J., HARRIS, B., NXUMALO, N. & NKOSI, M. (2009) Prerequisites for National Health Insurance in South Africa: Results of a national household survey. South African Medical Journal, 99, 725-729).
ANC spins a scheme to sell public health plan, 11 October 2009
The ANC will undertake a charm offensive to sell the national health insurance scheme to the public in the face of opposition from the private health sector. A popular campaign will promote the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) plan, an internal draft policy proposal reveals…. CITY PRESS
Private healthcare system ‘not sustainable’, 5 September 2009
The amount spent on private healthcare is inequitable and unsustainable, the Board of Healthcare Funders conference heard from numerous speakers. Professor Di Mclntyre, of the Health Economics Unit at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town, told the conference that while it was a given that the public healthcare sector faces enormous challenges, the private sector has to acknowledge that it too is part of the healthcare problem…Pretoria News / Saturday Argus / Saturday Star
Parliament to grill private schemes over exclusivity, September 2, 2009
Private health care service providers would be hauled before Parliament to explain why their system had only favoured the rich, Bevan Goqwana, the chairman of the portfolio committee on health, said yesterday….BUSINESS REPORT
Private healthcare ‘likely to implode’, 1 September 2009
DEPUTY Health Minister Molefi Sefularo extended a reconciliatory hand to the private healthcare sector yesterday, saying that the government would welcome its assistance in implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, but warned it would go ahead regardless…..BUSINESS DAY
What is killing the youth of South Africa?, 30 August 2009
The death rate among young people from illnesses such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, often connected to HIV/Aids, tripled over a nine-year period, a Statistics South Africa study has shown. Dr Susan Cleary, UCT’s Health Economic Unit director, said it was important to rectify the damage done because of the significant drop in spending on public health care. Cleary said the country was starting to feel the effects of HIV-related deaths….WEEKEND ARGUS
‘SA is a health hazard’, 26 August 2009
South Africa has the dubious distinction of having some of the worst health indicators in the world – a massive tuberculosis epidemic, the biggest HIV-positive population in the world, one of the worst rape rates and double the global average of violent deaths…….DAILY NEWS
SA health bedevilled by inequities – report, August 25 2009
South Africa has a “cocktail of four epidemics” – HIV and Aids, tuberculosis, violence, and poor maternal and child health – along with a rise in chronic diseases. This is according to a special edition of The Lancet, the respected UK-based medical journal, which is being released in Joburg on Tuesday. The Lancet report makes depressing reading. Some of the statistics – for HIV, TB and interpersonal violence – are among the worst in the world….IOL
South Africa embraces study critical of health policy, 24 August 2009
Leading South African scientists challenged the governing party on Monday to break with its deeply flawed record on AIDS and public health, spurring the country’s new health minister to say that he and his party shared their diagnosis of systemic problems and were determined to repair them…..NEW YORK TIMES
Health in South Africa, 24 August 2009
A collaboration between The Lancet and academic centres in South Africa to assess the health status in one of the most diverse regions of the world….THE LANCET ONLINE
(Read also report by Health-e and address by the Minister of Health at the media launch of the Lancet country series)
‘Enough for everyone, except the very greedy’ – Implications of NHI, 18 August 2009
Medical schemes will have to consider their future role. Private hospitals have been accused of making “super profits”, and medical aid administrators and pharmaceutical companies have been accused of benefiting at the expense of consumers……Business Times
Hope for thousands as stepped-up AIDS drug programme goes to top of agenda, 24 July 2009
The National Health Council will discuss next week a much more aggressive Aids policy, which could see all HIV-positive babies and hundreds of thousands more adults taking anti-retroviral drugs, saving many thousands of lives in South Africa……CAPE TIMES
Many benefit from postdoc research, 27 July 2009
“Although I’d always wanted to specialise in health economics, such opportunities were not available in Ethiopia. Indeed, health economics is a rare specialisation area, not offered in most low and middle-income countries”…… UCT MONDAY PAPER
Ask the people what they want from healthcare, 12 July 2009
The principles of a national health insurance (NHI) are simple—access to healthcare for all and everyone pitching in to pay for everyone….MAIL & GUARDIAN
OTF graduation dinner, 6 July 2009
A number of activities organised by the university’s Oliver Tambo Fellowship Programme (OTFP) included a graduation dinner attended by Dali Tambo. A seminar on national health insurance was held on 10 June for 26 senior public health managers……. UCT Daily News
Health system must first regain our trust, 22 June 2009
THERE is a crisis of trust in our healthcare system. Every day yet another group lament their lack of trust in “the system”, be they patients, doctors, nurses, wage negotiators or commentators…..CAPE TIMES
Drug shortages heap more woes on ailing healthcare system, 20 June 2009
Public health is in disarray as many hospitals and clinics countrywide experience medical supply shortages. The stock shortfall is so grave that some patients have had to leave the health facilities empty-handed….CITY PRESS
A chance to provide proper healthcare for all, 18 June 2009
THE South African health system is in deep crisis. We need a major transformation of our health system and we need it now. Problems in the public health sector are splashed across the front pages of our newspapers on a weekly basis: patients being turned away from public clinics and hospitals and some dying as a result, some provinces running out of antiretroviral drugs, the doctors’ strike, and so on…..CAPE TIMES
Curing our sick health system, June 14, 2009
An ANC task team headed by the former director-general of health, Dr Olive Shisana, and dominated by trade unionists, is trying to convince the ANC and the government to hastily implement a national health insurance (NHI) plan, but many believe it will spell disaster for the buckling public health system….CAPE ARGUS
NHI will be good for the poor, Jun 13, 2009
The key research document used for the ANC’s national health insurance policy — prepared by the Health Economics Unit at the University of Cape Town — shows that 36% of the country’s health benefits were spent on a group with 10% of its health needs, while 12.5% of benefits went to the sickest group, with 25% of the health needs…..The Times
Contrasts in health care are stark and evil, 8 June 2009
I am a health economist visiting South Africa from Australia. With respect to South African society, as a foreigner the thing that strikes me more than anything is the continuing poverty amidst such incredible affluence……. Cape Times
‘Rich-country’ solutions, 2 June 2009
An ANC task team headed by former director general of health Olive Shisana is trying to convince the ANC and government to implement a national health insurance (NHI) swiftly, but many believe this could be the kiss of death for an already buckling public health system. ……. Mail & Guardian
The health system of powerlessness, 2 June 2009
There is often a “vicious cycle” of power and distrust between patients and health care providers in Africa, often fed by another problematic cycle between employers and providers. ……. UCT Daily News
Flood or trickle? 21 May 2009
Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane in my view is rightly critical of Dr Dambisa Moyo’s book, Dead Aid (May 19). The book has unfortunately won much publicity and praise in the west where so many look for reasons to cut off aid to Africa – and lo! – a black African woman is providing “evidence” to support such a move. ……. Cape Times
South Africa faces treatment funding shortfall, 23 April 2009
South Africa will face tough choices in the years ahead as its government strives to extend treatment to all who need it through the public health system, a leading health economist told the Fourth South African AIDS Conference earlier this month. …. AIDSmap.com
An outsider feels obliged to ask, why are South Africans taking this lying down?, 9 April 2009
Robert Burns, the Scottish bard, wrote of the need to ‘see ourselves as others see us’. As a visiting Australian academic to UCT, I thought that for South Africans to see themselves as this ‘other’ sees you might be useful at this sad time in your country’s history. …. Cape Times
A more unified South African AIDS conference, 8 April 2009
For the most part, there seemed to be a rather harmonious tone set last week between the South African Government, civil society, scientists and health professionals at the Fourth South African AIDS Conference held in Durban. This in itself is remarkable. A barometer for whatever is going on in the fight against HIV in the country, the conference has always been marked by controversy. …. AIDSMap
National health unsureness, 7 April 2009
To many, it’s the only answer to the enormous inequalities in South Africa’s healthcare system. Others fear it may limit the variety of health services available in the country. And some warn that it will mean the end of private practice and medical aid schemes. …. Health24
2008
Towards affordable healthcare in Ghana, SA and Tanzania, 3 November 2008
In the latest edition of the World Health Organisation Bulletin health economists explore the extent of fragmentation within the health systems of three African countries. …. Healthe
Welcome to tobacco country, 15 August 2008
We might think we’re big in mining, synthetic fuels, cellphones or banking, but our biggest listed company on the JSE soon will be in tobacco. British American Tobacco (BAT) will dwarf all other South African behemoths by market capitalisation when it sets up a secondary listing on the JSE later in the year….Mail & Guardian
Professor Di McIntyre: inaugural lecture, 4 August 2008
In her inaugural lecture on 30 July Professor Di McIntyre took a critical look at the current health system and the challenges facing it. …. UCT Monday Paper
Private healthcare sector’s big three give upward kick to prices, says economist, 28 July, 2008
Too much power concentrated within the country’s three largest hospital groups was pushing up prices in the private healthcare sector, Di McIntyre, a health economist from the University of Cape Town, said yesterday. …. Business Report
Africa: Meeting The Abuja Promise Goes Beyond The 15 Percent Target, 11 July 2008
When the African Union (AU) Heads of State committed to allocating at least 15% of annual government budgets to their health sectors In Abuja, Nigeria in 2001, they also called on high income countries to fulfil their own commitment to devote at least 0.7% of their GNP as ODA to developing countries and to cancel Africa’s external debt in favour of increased investment in the social sector. …. allafrica.com
Health minister to assume more powers if new bills are passed, 17 June 2008
Two bills recently tabled in Parliament are set to shake up the private hospital industry and centralise decision-making over hospital tariffs as well as the regulation of new medicines and scientific trials within the health minister’s office. …. Healthe
Cabinet to breathe life into health insurance, 15 July 2008
Fourteen years after it was first mooted, the national health insurance scheme appears to be moving towards implementation. Some of the policy documents formulated over the past decade will be tabled before the cabinet tomorrow. …. Business Report
Smoking claims over 40 000 annually, 6 May 2008
More than 42 000 annual deaths in SA are attributed to tobacco use, the Cancer Association of SA (Cansa) said at the Health Portfolio Committee’s public hearing in Cape Town on Tuesday……IOL
2007
Medical doctoral candidates honoured, 12 December 2007
The Faculty of Health Sciences honoured their senior doctoral and doctoral graduates at a function at the MAC Club last night, hosted by the deputy dean (postgraduate affairs), Prof Kit Vaughan. …. UCT Daily News
Up the rungs, 12 Nov 2007
Forty-one academic staff and seven scientific and technical officers received ad hominem promotions. They were congratulated by Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Njabulo S Ndebele at a function in the Senate Room last week. …. UCT Monday Paper
Compulsory health insurance ‘critical’, 9 December 2007
Compulsory health insurance could be an effective way of dealing with problems in the private sector and addressing disparities between public and private health sectors. …. Cape Argus
2006
Determining a viable dispensing fee, 6 December 2006
Professor Di McIntyre, chair of government’s Pricing Committee, tasked with determining a viable dispensing fee for pharmacists, spoke exclusively to Health-e. …. Healthe
2005
Medical aid cover to benefit low earners, 8 October, 2005
The National Treasury is proposing to change the way your employer’s subsidy to your medical aid is taxed. The proposal would result in more low-income earners joining medical schemes. …. Personal Finance
2004
Supreme court of appeal throws out medicine price regulations, 24 December 2004
This week’s unanimous decision by a full bench of the supreme court of appeal (SCA) to overturn medicine pricing regulations does not signal the end of the battle between pharmacists and the department of health. …. Financial Mail
Department ‘has no say’ on VAT on medicines, 14 October 2004
Officials in the department of health are optimistic that the money accumulated from VAT on medicines will be poured back into the health sector, it emerged yesterday. …. Business Report
Medical advisers wanted VAT scrapped, 5 October 2004
The statutory body whose proposals form the basis of the disputed medicine pricing regulations also recommended that VAT be scrapped on medicines, it emerged yesterday. …. Business Report
Pharmacists may be breaking the law, 5 October, 2004
Pharmacists charging administration fees, over and above the dispensing fee set down, are contravening the law. …. Cape Argus
Medicine pricing regulations are unenforceable, New Clicks tells court, 18 June 2004
The government’s new medicine pricing regulations were incoherent and so vague as to be unenforceable, a full bench of the Cape high court was told yesterday. …. Business Report
How to save money on medicines, April 24 2004
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang revealed details on Friday of the government’s final version of new regulations that could eventually slash the cost of pharmaceuticals to consumers by up to 50 percent. …. Pretoria News
2003
No economic argument for stalling drug programme, 5 August 2003
A University of Cape Town study has confirmed that there is no economic argument for stalling a national Aids drug treatment programme. …. Cape Times
