The National Health Insurance (NHI) initiative will leave little distinction in service and quality between public and private hospitals once implemented, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has declared.

“We are starting a new decade in which we will be instituting decisive actions in the implementation of NHI. When it is fully implemented, there will be no distinction between public and private hospitals. We believe that, incrementally, we are going to be seeing changes and improvements in the quality of healthcare,” Mkhize said.

Mkhize made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to the post-natal ward at King Dinuzulu Hospital, to welcome the first babies of the new decade.He said that 81.3% of Durban’s population did not have access to private medical aid, but stood to benefit from the NHI.

“They will receive quality healthcare from facilities like King Dinuzulu Hospital, which earned a MEC’s excellence award for a significant reduction in maternal deaths; an increase in safe caesarean sections; good quality neonatal care; and the commissioning of a specialised Kangaroo Mother Care ward.”

New Year’s babies