Quinton Zunga, the chief executive of JSE-listed RH Bophelo. Quinton Zunga, the chief executive of JSE-listed RH Bophelo.
Cape Town - Part of the R20 billion health-care budget set aside by President Cyril Ramaphosa to fight Covid-19 must be used to support the growth of black-owned hospital groups that serve the lower income population.
This is according to Quinton Zunga, the chief executive of JSE-listed RH Bophelo, meaning “life” in Sotho, one of SA’s largest black-owned hospital groups.
In an interview this week, Zunga, responding to Ramaphosa’s announcement of a R500bn stimulus package, was of the view that the funding will go a long way in supporting the economy.
“We are also delighted that more money will be spent on health care and providing the resources to fight the pandemic.
“The government needs to especially focus on supporting black-owned hospital groups that serve the lower income population. Our hope is that sufficient resources can be channelled to focus on delivering to the poor and marginalised.”
RH Bophelo owns 16 hospitals in KZN, Gauteng, Free State and the Eastern Cape. Sister company RH Managers owns 13, taking the tally to 29. The company has now offered eight hospitals in four provinces to help fight Covid-19.
Three of these facilities are to aid mineworkers as operations are set to resume in the sector.
“I believe that the private sector has an integral part to play in assisting the country and its government to manage the crisis and minimise the impact on the economy.
“As health care providers that are already positioned within the
communities that will need medical care, it is critical that we are prepared for the influx of patients from the areas.”
Zunga said access to capital for black-owned hospital groups remained a major challenge in an industry that is capital intensive, often requiring a very strong balance sheet that is very hard to put together.
He said the structure of the market in the sector was not friendly to new players as hospital groups did not have customers of their own.
Customers are mainly from medical aid providers that have a monopoly over the hospital networks.
“We found ourselves, as a black-owned group, being removed at some point from a hospital network when one of the funders was of the opinion that they have sufficient hospitals in the network.
“Effectively, the funders have networks that they create. If you are a patient you are compelled to go to a network hospital even when we are the ones closest to our people and we are there to service that market.”