‘Healthcare Has Got To Be Available To Everybody'

Hermann Kohloffel, the Managing Director of NHC Medical Services, says the private sector needs to see the National Health Insurance (NHI) as an opportunity, rather than a threat.

- Gareth Cotterell

Many in South Africa’s private healthcare industry see the government’s plan for National Health Insurance (NHI) as a death knell to their businesses. Hermann Kohloffel, the Managing Director of NHC Medical Services, sees it as a chance to improve healthcare for all South Africans.

“No matter how you slice and dice what we see coming from NHI, how we see it as a threat or a concern, it’s an opportunity. The reason why it has to be seen as an opportunity is because healthcare has got to be available to everybody. No matter how we argue about the costs, you cannot leave somebody without care. You’re not going to leave somebody suffering with cancer and say ‘well, because you don’t have the money, we’re not going to look after you’,” he says.

Kohloffel says the reason the private health centers can turn ailing people away is because they know those patients can turn to the state for help.

“The state is ultimately the saviour of the damned and the havenots. If this was a country that just had one system, let’s say just the private system, what would happen? You’d be forced to help that person. Nobody could in good conscience kick that person out onto the pavement... If you look at other countries’ health systems, the state is the only system. The state doesn’t turn around and say ‘because you don’t pay tax, we won’t help you’.”

South Africa’s Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, says that private healthcare is sometimes unjusifiably expensive. Kohloffel agrees and says patients often pay for expensive procedures, when a cheaper option is available and will get the same outcome.