SOUTH AFRICAN PRIVATE HOSPITALS DEFEND COST RISES

South African hospital association HASA has defended rising private healthcare costs, after a recent report showed that expenditure increased 18.5% in 2004. This compares with a 5.3% increase in annual expenditure for public hospitals.

HASA claims that the high prices are caused by factors such as the use of expensive high-tech equipment. Also, the body points to the fact that 94% of people registering for medical schemes suffer from chronic illnesses -- such as hypertension, asthma, diabetes and coronary heart disease -- which are more costly to treat. Additionally, the currency's decline has increased the cost of imported drugs, which together with surgical interventions account for around 45% of private hospital spending.

Growing private health costs have been cited as the reason for why the number of people with private health insurance has remained flat at just 7mn of a workforce of roughly 29mn. With large numbers of South Africans either unemployed or self-employed, new government plans to impose mandatory private health insurance on salaried workers could have only a limited impact.