Issued by: Department of Health
8 January 1997
The draft National Health Bill is still a discussion document. It was circulated to maximise transparency and to obtain comments from stakeholders, prior to submission to the political heads at national and provincial levels. By doing this, the Department is aiming at allowing for input of various stakeholders to be taken on board, before official adoption by the Minister, MEC's, Cabinet and Parliament.
The Department of Health has in the past 2 years launched and finalised a number of policy documents amongst which are the following: Towards a National Health System a Policy document, Restructuring of the National Health System for Universal Primary Health Care, the District Health System etc.
The draft Bill should be seen as an embodiment of the policies that the Department would have developed. The current Health Act has many flaws and does not address the pertinent issues that the Democratic Government has to tackle head-on. It therefore becomes critically important that the Department should start developing the Health Bill aimed at creating a legal framework for the implementa- tion of the policies that define the roles and functions of various spheres of Government with respect to health services.
We fully appreciate that any discussion document should be the subject of vigorous debates and discussions. It is against this background therefore that we would like to commend the National Party for stimulating a debate around certain aspects of the draft Bill. We however urge the National Party and other stakeholders to make a meaningful contribution in developing a National Health Bill for South Africa.
Issued by: Nogolide Nojozi Department of Health Health Promotion and Communication Tel: (012) 312-0171 Fax: (012) 217 960