Although Dr Joe Phaahla said that in the current economic climate, ‘we understand we have to cut’, he lamented that the public health sector was very sensitive to budgetary cuts and was already under pressure from a growing burden of disease.
On Thursday morning, at a meeting with members of the media, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said he was concerned that “cost containment” measures ordered by the National Treasury would have a negative impact on the quality of healthcare services. “We understand we have to cut … as long as there’s an understanding [that] there’s a limit” to what the health system can bear, Phaala said.Health Minister Joe Phaahla addresses a media briefing in Midrand, Gauteng, on 28 September 2023.
South Africa’s delivery of crucial services under threat after Treasury desperately calls for ‘fiscal consolidation’ of public finances “Our biggest expenditure is human resources and we will feel the pinch of the 7.5% salary increase” which, Phaahla says, amounts to an additional cost of R8-billion per annum.
He said that on the one hand, people were “screaming, where are the vaccines?” and pointing fingers at the government. On the other hand, big pharma was telling the government, “Take it at this price or leave it.”
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