Time to put the welfare of health workers before profits
Private health-care providers pay dividends but neglect frontline staff
08 November 2020 - 00:00
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues its assault, there is a desire by some to return to a business-as-usual, shareholder-first model, but business as usual led us here. Covid-19 sounds a warning bell when this shareholder philosophy infiltrates a sector as crucial as health care. Over the past four years Netcare, Life Healthcare and Mediclinic, the country’s three largest private health-care providers with a market share of about 80%, paid out more to shareholders than they made in profits. These payouts amounted to an average of R92m a week and R19bn in four years...
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