Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood has expressed support for rival hospital group Netcare’s proposal that government and business extend their collaboration on the economy to health.
Business and government launched a scheme in June 2023 in which they agreed to work together to restore public and investor confidence by addressing constraints to economic growth in the domains of energy, logistics, and crime and corruption.
On Monday Netcare CEO Richard Friedland flighted the idea of bringing in health as a fourth focus area, arguing that it offered a way to quickly resolve some of SA’s most pressing healthcare challenges.
In an interview with Business Day on Tuesday, Wharton-Hood welcomed the idea, saying: “I would ... commit resources and time to having those dialogues. Let’s get patients in need into facilities that are empty.”
“Co-operation between the public and private sector is the way forward,” he said shortly after the company released its results for the year to September 30.
The capacity in the private sector that is not used should be made available to the state (on commercially viable) terms.
Many private hospitals are underutilised, while public sector patients often face long waits for services ranging from cancer treatment to elective procedures.
Netcare said at the release on Monday that occupancy in its acute hospitals averaged 64.3%. Life Healthcare said average occupancy in its acute hospitals for the year to September 30 stood at 68.7%. Hospital operator Mediclinic said last week that occupancy in its Southern Africa business stood at 69.9% for the six months to September 30.
“The capacity in the private sector that is not used should be made available to the state (on commercially viable) terms,” said Wharton-Hood.
The private sector was well placed to provide a range of healthcare services to the state, including those required by cancer patients, he said.
Netcare’s proposal comes as the government of national unity grapples with the ANC’s National Health Insurance (NHI) Act, which was signed into law just two weeks before the general election.
The government of national unity includes several parties that opposed the legislation when it was before parliament, and President Cyril Ramaphosa is considering a proposal from Business Unity SA on possible alternatives.
NHI is the ANC’s plan for universal health coverage. Its proponents say it will end SA’s deeply inequitable, two-tier health system, while critics such as Business Unity SA say it is unaffordable and unimplementable.
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