STORY: South African president signs National Health Insurance Bill into law
SHOOTING TIME: May 15, 2024
DATELINE: May 18, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:11
LOCATION: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/HEALTH

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the singing ceremony
2. various of South African president speaking 
3. various of South African president signing the bill

STORYLINE:

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday signed into law the much-anticipated National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which seeks to transform the country's "unequal" healthcare system.

"In signing this bill, we are signaling our determination to advance the constitutional right to access health care as articulated in Section 27 of the Constitution. The passage of the bill sets the foundation for ending a parallel inequitable health system where those without means are relegated to poor health care," Ramaphosa said at the signing ceremony held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital.

In his speech, Ramaphosa described the NHI as "an opportunity to make a break with the inequality and inefficiency" that characterized the country's approach to healthcare.

According to him, the real challenge facing the NHI would not be funding, as some have suggested, but the misallocation of funds that favored private health care.

The president further noted that the healthcare system would tackle healthcare costs.

"The NHI is an important instrument to tackle poverty. The rising cost of health care makes families poorer. By contrast, health care provided through the NHI frees up resources in poor families for other essential needs," he said.

The signing of the NHI Bill came after it was passed by the parliament last year. Its key objectives were to transform healthcare by addressing some of the challenges it faces, including infrastructure decay and shortages of healthcare workers. According to Ramaphosa, the NHI's implementation will be gradual and phased.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa.
(XHTV)