The Health Market Inquiry (HMI) hearings into the private healthcare sector will get under way on February 16 at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) International Convention Centre, in Pretoria.

In addition to private healthcare consumers, other stakeholders expected to make oral submissions at the CSIR included public interest law centre Section 27, the World Health Organisation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and practitioner associations.

The hearings would continue at the HMI offices from February 23 to 25, when service providers would be allowed to make oral submissions.

For Cape Town stakeholders, the sessions would run from March 1 to 3 and March 8 to 10, where the National Department of Health, various medical schemes and the country’s three largest hospital groups, Netcare, Mediclinic and Life Healthcare, were expected to make oral submissions.

The public hearings sought to inform members of the public and other stakeholders about how the private healthcare sector operated and to help them understand how various consumer groups, labour unions, nongovernmental organisations and healthcare service providers interacted with each another.

The hearings also sought to give members of the public the opportunity to provide additional information that they may wish to bring to the attention of the panel of the HMI.