MEC seeks private sector help on surgery backlogs
by Andile Makholwa,
2015-03-19 06:05:05.0
GAUTENG health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is in talks with private healthcare providers to help clear orthopaedic surgery backlogs amid complaints that patients have been waiting up to seven years.
There is hope that this could help deepen collaboration between government and private hospital groups as SA prepares to roll out National Health Insurance (NHI). It is envisaged that under NHI, SA’s healthcare resources would be pooled to service the whole population, irrespective of whether a patient has medical aid or not.
"We’ve already received proposals from the private sector on their capacity and pricing. I’m hoping and praying that with all the resources, in both the public and private sectors, we will be able to eliminate the numbers," Ms Mahlangu says. She is being advised on how to have more state patients treated in the private sector at public-sector prices.
The government has few partnerships with private providers. This could be because Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has in the past complained that contracts were expensive and tended to benefit private companies only.
Life Healthcare runs a number of state-owned hospitals for the mentally disabled on behalf of provincial health departments. Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban also has a successful public-private partnership, but Dr Motsoaledi says it is expensive. Last year he lambasted Netcare after news that its public-private partnership in Maseru was taking 45% of Lesotho’s health budget.
Ms Mahlangu says there is "no animosity" between her and CEOs of hospital providers. "I’ve met with a couple of them, individually and collectively, and when we bump into each other we have this kind of conversation and I’ve never had a single one who is not willing to help the public sector."
She is "not too worried" about price. "They’re willing to come to the party in more ways than one. For instance, I know Netcare in the UK does a lot of public patients at the price determined by the NHS."
Hospital Association of SA CEO Dumisani Bomela says private hospitals account for about 24% of hospital beds in the country. "The private hospital sector is on record stating its desire to work with the government on the mechanism and details of collaboration," he says.
"The solutions might include different modes of delivery, from the use of private hospitals to use of public hospital theatres (where ward availability is the bottleneck) to mobile units."
On price, he says private hospital groups would need to be engaged independently. Alternatively, government could simply put these contracts out to tender, as the NHS does in the UK.
Gauteng Democratic Alliance health spokesman Jack Bloom says the wait for hip and knee surgery is generally three years, with more than 1,000 patients on the waiting list and hundreds more that should be on the list but are still waiting to see a specialist.
"There seems to be a particular orthopaedics problem at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where patients have been told that there is a seven-year wait," he says.
The overall waiting list for operations is more than 10,000, many of which are for cataracts.
"The private sector should be brought in to assist with surgery backlogs…. I think special rates can be negotiated, and operating theatres in state hospitals can be used in the evenings and over weekends to clear the backlogs. Many doctors would actually volunteer their time for this," says Mr Bloom.
The "hostile approach to private hospitals" by Dr Motsoaledi does not help: "I know the private sector has tried to do joint projects with the Gauteng health department but bureaucracy and inefficiency have stifled this — unlike in the Western Cape, where there is a more business-friendly approach."
Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, right, is said to be taking a friendlier approach to private hospital groups than Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, left, as she tackles surgery backlogs. File picture: THE TIMES
GAUTENG health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is in talks with private healthcare providers to help clear orthopaedic surgery backlogs amid complaints that patients have been waiting up to seven years.
There is hope that this could help deepen collaboration between government and private hospital groups as SA prepares to roll out National Health Insurance (NHI). It is envisaged that under NHI, SA’s healthcare resources would be pooled to service the whole population, irrespective of whether a patient has medical aid or not.
"We’ve already received proposals from the private sector on their capacity and pricing. I’m hoping and praying that with all the resources, in both the public and private sectors, we will be able to eliminate the numbers," Ms Mahlangu says. She is being advised on how to have more state patients treated in the private sector at public-sector prices.
The government has few partnerships with private providers. This could be because Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has in the past complained that contracts were expensive and tended to benefit private companies only.
Life Healthcare runs a number of state-owned hospitals for the mentally disabled on behalf of provincial health departments. Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban also has a successful public-private partnership, but Dr Motsoaledi says it is expensive. Last year he lambasted Netcare after news that its public-private partnership in Maseru was taking 45% of Lesotho’s health budget.
Ms Mahlangu says there is "no animosity" between her and CEOs of hospital providers. "I’ve met with a couple of them, individually and collectively, and when we bump into each other we have this kind of conversation and I’ve never had a single one who is not willing to help the public sector."
She is "not too worried" about price. "They’re willing to come to the party in more ways than one. For instance, I know Netcare in the UK does a lot of public patients at the price determined by the NHS."
Hospital Association of SA CEO Dumisani Bomela says private hospitals account for about 24% of hospital beds in the country. "The private hospital sector is on record stating its desire to work with the government on the mechanism and details of collaboration," he says.
"The solutions might include different modes of delivery, from the use of private hospitals to use of public hospital theatres (where ward availability is the bottleneck) to mobile units."
On price, he says private hospital groups would need to be engaged independently. Alternatively, government could simply put these contracts out to tender, as the NHS does in the UK.
Gauteng Democratic Alliance health spokesman Jack Bloom says the wait for hip and knee surgery is generally three years, with more than 1,000 patients on the waiting list and hundreds more that should be on the list but are still waiting to see a specialist.
"There seems to be a particular orthopaedics problem at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where patients have been told that there is a seven-year wait," he says.
The overall waiting list for operations is more than 10,000, many of which are for cataracts.
"The private sector should be brought in to assist with surgery backlogs…. I think special rates can be negotiated, and operating theatres in state hospitals can be used in the evenings and over weekends to clear the backlogs. Many doctors would actually volunteer their time for this," says Mr Bloom.
The "hostile approach to private hospitals" by Dr Motsoaledi does not help: "I know the private sector has tried to do joint projects with the Gauteng health department but bureaucracy and inefficiency have stifled this — unlike in the Western Cape, where there is a more business-friendly approach."
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