NHI could fix some of the Helen Joseph problems: Motsoaledi

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says the recent viral social media video that depicted a dire state of patient care at the Helen Joseph hospital in Johannesburg, is not an indictment on the entire health system.

The video that a patient posted, exposed deteriorating infrastructure and doctors’ bad treatment of patients at the hospital.

The Gauteng Health Department says it has instituted an investigation into the matter.

Motsoaledi says that the introduction of National Health Insurance (NHI) could help deal with some of the problems in the public health system.

“We are trying our best, but time and again we do have Helen Josephs of this world, which breaks our hearts obviously; but I am saying because of what was happening in Helen Joseph and many other areas where something went wrong, we should not throw our hands in the air in despair, we are busy trying to fix this system and the issue of universal health coverage. We want to equalise the system so that we get good managers on both sides of the system. The other 14% which is managed very well is because it has huge amounts of resources,” says Motsoaledi.

VIDEO| Dr Aaron Motsoaledi responds to allegations of poor conditions at hospitals