Question NW2212 to the Minister of Health
11 December 2024 - NW2212
Letlape, Dr TKS to ask the Minister of Health
(1) In light of the recent court judgment in Section 27 and Others versus Gauteng MEC of Health and Others that granted free healthcare services to children of undocumented foreign nationals under the age of six and pregnant undocumented foreign nationals, (a) what measurable impact has the specified ruling had on the capacity, resources and service delivery in maternity and child wards across the already burdened public health facilities and (b)(i) who is currently responsible for covering the costs of free healthcare services provided to undocumented foreign nationals under the ruling and (ii) how are the expenses being managed by his department; (2) how (a) does his department intend to integrate the court judgment into the broader provision of healthcare services and (b) will National Health Insurance funding and resource allocation cater for the inclusion of undocumented foreign nationals in free healthcare programmes?
Reply:
The Honourable Member is kindly advised that this was not a Court judgement, but a Settlement Agreement made an order of Court which different to a Court Judgment where the Judge will hear the evidence and submission of all the Parties to the matter and thereafter made a judgment based on what the Judge heard in Court. In light of the above.
1. (a) Maternal, newborn and child health services are provided as part of comprehensive primary health care and hospital services. As a result, information on resource requirements for and expenditure on these services is not available. However, review of monthly numbers of first antenatal visits, deliveries, inpatient paediatric days and the number of children under five years of age attending Primary Health Care facilities for the period September 2022 to September 2024 does not show an upward trend, suggesting that this Court Settlement has not resulted in a significant increase in resource requirements or expenditure.
(b) (i) Provincial Departments of Health are responsible for providing health services to undocumented foreign nationals.
(ii) Provincial Departments of Health are responsible for forecasting demand and allocating budgets.
2. (a) As noted, Provincial Departments allocate budgets based on forecasted utilisation. Whilst some local redistribution of resources to health services which serve a large number of undocumented foreign nationals may be required, the court settlement has not resulted in a significant increase in overall demand for maternal and child health services.
(b) It depends on the circumstance of the person. The same Court Settlement mentioned above states that if it can be proven that the person came specifically for healthcare services, then Government is entitled to charge such a person. END.