The Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Kenneth Jacobs says they are confident that the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI) will pass constitutional muster.

The Committee adopted the Bill which will now be debated in the National Assembly. The aim of the Bill is to ensure comprehensive healthcare services from accredited health facilities, the move, however, has prompted warnings and threats of legal action from the health industry.

Dr Jacobs says they are ready to defend any court challenges. “We have been informed throughout the public hearings and throughout the committee deliberations by political parties and by those who came to present to us that this is what they are planning to do and we expect it actually to happen…”

“We’ve had many discussions, you would understand that we finished our work as the portfolio committee on the deliberations and so the last few weeks have only been on the legal aspects of the bill and we are convinced that we are not going to fail on the challenge on the constitutionality of the bill,” he adds.

Government to go ahead with the implementation NHI Bill