Lerato Mbhiza
THE health sector is expected to receive an allocation of R848 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework with at least R1 billion directed to the National Health Insurance (NHI).
This was announced by Minister Enoch Godongwana during the 2024 Budget Speech on Thursday.
“These allocations include R11.6 billion to address the 2023 wage agreement, R27.3 billion for infrastructure, and R1.4 billion for the NHI grant over the same period.
“The allocation for the NHI is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to this policy. There remain a range of system-strengthening activities that are key enablers of an improved public health care system that must be undertaken,” Godongwana said.
He said these activities include:
- Building a national health information system and digital patient records;
- Upgrading health facilities and improving quality of care to ensure that they meet the minimum criteria to be certified and accredited for contracting under NHI;
- Strengthening facility and district management in preparation for contracting;
- Granting semi-autonomous status for central (and potentially other) hospitals; and
- Developing reference prices and provider payment methods for hospitals.
In the 2024 Budget Review, National Treasury noted that the budget for the sector is expected to grow slower than inflation over the MTEF “due to the R23.7 billion baseline reductions over the medium term”.
Education Sector
Turning to education, he said the sector will receive some R25.7 billion “carry-through costs of the wage increase over the medium term”.
“At the same time, we were able to protect the budgets of critical programmes such as the school nutrition programme. The programme provides food to pupils in almost 20 000 schools.
“The early childhood development grant is allocated R1.6 billion rising to R2 billion over the medium term,” he said.
INSIDE POLITICS
