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The National Health Insurance (NHI), for which membership will be compulsory, is a funding scheme that aims to address healthcare inequity in South Africa. The scheme will do this by creating a fund that the government will use to buy healthcare services at set fees from accredited public and private health providers. The NHI Act was signed into law on 15 May 2024 but before it will come into effect, Parliament will need to enact further legislation (including ones providing for its funding).

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[WATCH] Starry nights over city lights: Why this doctor wants to work in rural KZN for good

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January 12, 2023

January 12, 2023

Doctor Thulani Ngwenya has no plans to leave his job at Bethesda Hospital near Ubombo in rural KwaZulu-Natal for a post in a city. Ngwenya grew up near the facility and he’s determined to serve his community for as long as possible.

As long as he’s around, Ngwenya argues, patients can get healthcare in a language that they understand.

The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation, which offers financial support and mentorship, helps to produce health workers for the country’s underserved far-flung areas. Ngwenya is one of about 500 health science graduates that the nonprofit has helped since 1999. Get to know this rural doctor better with our reporter Dylan Bush.

READ MORE: How these pupils from SA’s poorest schools became doctors

READ MORE: Why these health workers are spending their lives in South Africa’s poorest villages

Dylan Bush

Dylan Bush was a health journalist at Bhekisisa from February 2016 to September 2023.

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