Parliament’s own members, not the executive, will have to decide whether to abolish the PARMED medical aid scheme that covers Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures, and judges.

That was the substance of a written reply to a parliamentary question from ActionSA’s Dr Tebogo Letlape, who this month asked whether Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the minister of health, intended to end what Letlape described as: “exclusivity and unjustifiable privileges” while ordinary South Africans rely on a strained public health system, and if so, why no legislation has been introduced to do so.

Letlape was referring to the fact that MPs have access to a well-funded medical aid scheme while most ordinary South Africans have to rely on a crumbling public health system.

In his response, the Minister pointed to the legal foundation of the scheme and the separation of powers. He said: “PARMED is established in terms of an Act of Parliament and thus, if it is to be abolished, this will have to be a decision of the Members of Parliament. The Minister of Health does not have the mandate nor the power to abolish PARMED.”

Marius Roodt told The Common Sense that the reply by Dr Motsoaledi was telling as the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme which the government was still seeking to introduce would neuter private medical aid schemes to such a degree that they would be non-existent.

“If one was uncharitable the minister’s answer would make one think that the medical aids of our politicians will be protected under NHI, but the medical aids of ordinary citizens is fair game,” Roodt said.