Business is ready to partner with the government to improve SA’s healthcare, Business Unity SA (Busa) CEO Tanya Cohen told delegates at the presidential health summit on Friday. The summit highlights the importance President Cyril Ramaphosa is attaching to healthcare, and follows a summit he convened on National Health Insurance (NHI) in August. He also emphasised healthcare when he announced his R50bn economic stimulus package, saying the government spending would be reprioritised to increase spending on health, including filling 2,200 critical posts. “As with land, mining and energy, we regard health and education as key policy areas that need to be tackled if we are going to improve our collective prospects,” said Cohen. SA is at a crisis point, with the majority of South Africans unable to access decent healthcare, she said, citing the collapse of state oncology services in KwaZulu-Natal, medicine shortages, and Gauteng’s scandal when mentally ill patients were moved from Life E...

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