South Africa (& Gabon) Have Least Efficient Healthcare Systems in the World

It’s not surprising that the Ministerial Task Team announced today, Thursday, that it has found that the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has failed to provide leadership and guidance to the health profession on a number of issues…when you look at the infographic below.

The infographic, outlining how effectively countries around the world spend their healthcare budgets, displays South Africa – along with Gabon – as being the least efficient in the world!

The graphic, which was produced recently by Medigo (an online marketplace for “medical tourism”), displays data from The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) ‘Healthcare Outcomes Index 2014’, which took into account a number of diverse and complex factors – from life expectancy to infant mortality rates – to produce a ranking of the world’s best-performing countries in healthcare (outcome).

By plotting the EIU’s outcome rankings against spending rankings for each country (based on date from the World Health Organisation), Medigo developed a global overview of how effectively countries use their healthcare budgets.

South Africa and Gabon rate as having the least efficient healthcare systems in the world…although that is amongst the countries that at least had quantifiable data. Countries like Zimbabwe are greyed out in the infographic for having no data (or insufficient data).

On a scale of one to nine, South Africa only scored one, while Ethiopia and Madagascar scored amongst the best in the world with eight. Mozambique scored quite a bit better than South Africa at four.

The USA only scored two on the index (because although it spends the most of any nation, its money is not spent effectively). Other South African expat hotspots – Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand – fared better at five.

The Ministerial Task Team (MTT) was established in March to investigate allegations of administrative irregularities, mismanagement and poor governance at the HPCSA.

Today Health Minister Aaron Motsaoledi released the findings in a 90-page report, along with recommendations.

The Minister said the task team found the HPCSA to be in a state of multi-system organisational dysfunction with a “lack of coherence and cohesion”.

He said “it is the view of the MTT that the best interests of the health system are not served by the current structure and organisation of the HPCSA.”

The HPCSA was recently accused of poor communication with health professionals, excessive delays, registration rules that discriminate against foreign-qualified practitioners from developing countries, and failure to respond meaningfully to questions from the public.

Following the investigation, Minister Motsoaledi said there was evidence of administrative irregularities, mismanagement and poor governance at the HPCSA which was documented in the forensic investigation undertaken by the KPMG in 2011 on the procurement procedures followed in the acquisition of the ORACLE information system.

“The forensic investigation had found that a former Chief Executive Officer or Registrar and executive committee of the council of the HPCSA approved a contract which eventually cost over R30 million without following tender procedures, and thus appointed a contract company in an irregular manner,” he said.

The task team recommended disciplinary and incapacity proceedings against the CEO or Registrar, the Chief Operations Officer and the General Manager of legal Services at the organisation, as well as suspension pending the completion of these proceedings.

Minister Motsoaledi said the time had come to review the value of the HPCSA after 15 years of its establishment.

The task team recommended that the unbundling of the HPCSA into at least two entities – the historic Medical and Dental Council and the Health and Rehabilitation Council – be considered.

These recommendations will hopefully lead to South Africa improving its ranking as a country where people get what they pay for in healthcare…

Partially sourced: SAnews.gov.za

The Full Infographic – Which Countries Get What They Pay For in Healthcare