Health Minister Motsoaledi Defends Underspending on Health Insurance

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday defended the slow spending  in National Health Insurance (NHI) programmes overseen by his department, saying he had anticipated that the money would be needed for other purposes. Treasury documents show that only 10.4% of the NHI indirect grant allocated for the 2018/2019 fiscal year had been spent by the middle of the year, or September 30. The Treasury redirected R546m from the grant to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to fill 2,200 critical health vacancies and purchase beds and linen, which he made when he announced his economic stimulus package in September. Read the full Business Day article here.