Business: Hospital group is taking on the uninsured market in SA and NHI

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:36 pm

It might also be a small rival to the likes of Netcare and Mediclinic but RH Bophelo is making huge strikes in a tough industry as it works to supply low-cost health care and primes itself for the National Health Insurance (NHI) by means of the quit of the decade.

“Our story is good, but it is a small precise story,” Quinton Zunga, the CEO of RH Bophelo, informed KnowAfrika.

Patients have been putting non-elective surgeries, like hip replacements and cataract removals, on hold out of fear of catching the virus at a hospital.

But these operations will still need to take place and hospitals count on a surge, as soon as the threat of Covid-19 abates. Zunga said: “When a disaster like this one [Covid-19] hits, your have an impact on is a great deal greater for high-end hospitals than it would be for our hospitals.” 

In the previous year, RH Bophelo has been making big moves, obtaining 60% of Wesmart Financial and Administration Solutions for R2.7 billion, via which it will provide the Docsure-Dema-sure scientific useful resource products priced from R575.

“We simply are moving to create an built-in lower priced healthcare operator,” he said.

The crew is targeting the uninsured but employed market and though South Africa’s unemployment price has accelerated to 30.1%, Zunga added there used to be room for RH Bophelo in the market.

At the moment, people are both shopping for down in their medical resource alternatives or cancelling them as they struggle to make ends meet during the pandemic.

South Africa’s private hospitals have been grappling with growth challenges on the returned of a susceptible economic system and stagnant increase for medical insured lives of about nine million.

RH Bophelo additionally received Krugerdorp’s Bell Hospital from Netcare, Medicare Private Hospital in Rustenburg, Fauchard day medical institution in Johannesburg and Vryburg Hospital as well as the Phelang Bonolo Healthcare Group.

The group’s boom approach is also meant to equipped it for the NHI, which is set to be absolutely applied in 2030. “[The] NHI is a funder mannequin and wants infrastructure.

So from our perspective, it will need infrastructure which we have. In a lot of the towns, we are the only non-public health facility,” Zunga said.

He brought there had been a lot of details that nevertheless needed to be ironed out on the NHI such as tariff and other operational issues, however he believed RH Bophelo used to be in a exact position to have a partnership with the government.

On Friday RH Bophelo launched its annual outcomes for the 12 months ended 29 February 2020, which confirmed that its salary had improved from R21.1 million to R69.9 million.

Much like remaining year, the business enterprise did now not declare dividends in view that it is still increasing its capital base and listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange last year.

(Fin24)