Portfolio Committee on Health adopts ‘new’ NHI Bill

According to a Parliamentary media release, the committee will today (26 May) consider and adopt the NHI Bill Committee report.

The Bill still needs to be passed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) before it proceeds through the final parliamentary processes for implementation.

However, despite the Portfolio Committee’s assurances that the new Bill reflects all the proposed amendments, it appears as if not much was changed from the original version, leaving it open to legal challenges. Both the DA and the Freedom Front Plus have earlier indicated that they would fight the Bill if left unchanged while trade union, Solidarity said last night that it will certainly challenge the legislation.