Johannesburg – Infrastructure allocation for health will in the interim be delayed as government continues to prioritise its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, says Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
These will be funded in future in line with revised cash flow projections, he said.
The Minister on Thursday tabled his first Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament, since his appointment in August.
In the MTBPS, the National Treasury said the health function remained severely affected by the ongoing pandemic.
Since the advent of COVID-19 in the South Africa in March last year, the country had to date experienced three large infection waves.
There have been 2 924 622 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Africa with 89 435 people having lost their lives.
The Treasury said this had put “considerable pressure” on provincial health departments.
“Although the volume of other services such as primary healthcare visits and overall hospital admissions has declined during the pandemic, service backlogs may have accumulated as a result.
After several delays, the vaccination rollout started accelerating in June 2021.”
South Africa had administered 130 514 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Wednesday, which pushed the total to 23 540 547.
The department said absorbing the budget reductions implemented in the 2021 Budget remained a challenge in the health sector.
Nonetheless, discussions were under way on how to respond to future waves of infection and continue the vaccination programme in 2022/23, including for younger groups and with booster doses if necessary.
“The sector needs to continue to improve efficiency to sustain service delivery and alleviate backlogs in a constrained budgetary environment,” it said, adding that spending pressures associated with absorbing the large cohorts of medical graduates needing internships and community service posts are being considered.
In the same document, the Treasury said an ageing population was associated with increased health expenditure.
“The elderly proportion of the population is projected to grow by 2.5 % per year over the next two decades, reaching 6 million by 2040,” reads the MTBPS.
Over the past decade, healthcare inflation had tended to exceed CPI inflation.
Treasury said the long-run cost of healthcare is driven by the extent of private-sector contracting, the cost of goods and services, and demand.
It said these factors were likely to dominate under current or national health insurance policies.
“If current policies and trends persist, healthcare spending is projected to increase from 4.5 % of GDP in 2020/21 to 6 % of GDP in 2040/41,” it states.
– SAnews.gov.za
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