NHI fund in 2-3 years

Dept gets direct grant to prepare the health system.

- Molefe Seeletsa

It will take at least two to three years to complete the establishment of the National Health Insurance (NHI) fund, says National Treasury.

Treasury officials said this on Friday when briefing parliament's standing committee on finance and select committee on finance. In the joint meeting, Treasury's head of budget Edgar Sishi informed MPs that much of the NHI funding would come from indirect grants.

South Africa has allocated R2.5 billion per year for indirect health spending under the NHI over the 2025 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF). The direct NHI grant is expected to be about R460 million annually.

"So there's more to the NHI than talking about adding money. It's actually about coordinating the existing public sector health function and those processes will take time."