Reflection
Just as a student can only access the university with a student card so too do people have barriers to gaining access to our health care services in South Africa. The photograph that I have taken is of a security entrance gate at my university which only ensures access to limited authorised personnel and therefore becomes a barrier to those who are not granted access to this institution. The security access gate symbolizes the barriers faced by South African citizens when attempting to gain access to their health care system.
The South African health care system is made up of a two-tier health care system. There are public hospitals which are larger yet underfunded and understaffed as well as smaller but highly equipped private hospitals, each one having their own barriers to overcome. One of the major barriers to gaining access to private hospitals would be financial wealth for medical insurance. As for public hospitals time is a major barrier, as people would need to take off from work in order to wait in the never-ending lines only to be told to come back the next day. These long waiting times are due to the influx of people using public health care rather than private. This puts a strain on peoples already limited finances, as no work means no pay for the day. Due to these barriers many people would seek help elsewhere in the form of a traditional healer or they would simply try to put off the hospital visit in hopes that they will recover.
Academic literature
Medical aid also called medical insurance, is a monthly premium that is paid for financial cover of medical treatments and medical expenses for a private hospital (“What is medical aid? | Fedhealth Medical Aid”, 2019). One of the major barriers in South Africa is poverty. Many of the South African citizens are unemployed or make minimum wage and are therefore unable to pay the expensive monthly premiums for medical aid. This results in the private sector catering to the minority of the population whilst the public sector has to cater to approximately 80% of the population (“Healthcare in South Africa – Expat Guide to South Africa | Expatica”, 2019).
According to the South African labour guide, “During every 36 months cycle, commencing from the first day of employment, the employee is entitled to be given paid sick leave equal to the number of days he normally works in a 6-week period” (2019). This means that if a person works a 5- day week then their sick leave in every 36 months cycle is 30 days on full pay. This could sometimes become a problem as majority of people use public health which would mean that due to the long queues at the hospital the person might not be seen on that day.
References
Health care in South Africa. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/south-africa-fast-facts/health-facts/health-care-in-south-africa
Healthcare in South Africa – Expat Guide to South Africa | Expatica. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.expatica.com/za/healthcare/healthcare-basics/healthcare-in-south-africa-105896/
What is medical aid? | Fedhealth Medical Aid. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.fedhealth.co.za/medical-aid-questions/what-is-medical-aid/
(2019). Retrieved from http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-sick-leave
One thought on “The South African health system-Leyya Jagot”
Hey Leyya.
The problem you are writing about is very interesting seen from a Norwegian point of view, since the problem with time of work is protected, and we can have 14 “sick days”
through the year with salary.
I would like to know more about the private hospitals, since maybe they can give their workers more salary/ better working environment / better technology then the public? I would if its possible maybe know how much one pasient cost the government, and is the services the public hospital provide completely free? As in Norway we have certain things we have to pay, but mostly its free. (Like castes, and mostly the material used to help a pasient)
The references you are using are good, and they support everything that you say. You have a claim that people wait in never ending lanes, just to be told to come back the next day. Is this self-experienced, or do you have a source on this?
Writing and grammar.
The writing and grammar is good, but some of the sentences have some minor structural problems. Like the first sentence maybe have a “too” that dont have to be there, and “to gain” not “to gaining”. But this is just minor flaws.
I think you have maid a great first try, and hopefully you can get some help out of this. All the best for the rest of this assignment and the rest of your studies 🙂
Sondre Lied