Pretoria - Retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo has been appointed as chairperson of the Competition Commission’s healthcare inquiry panel.
Ngcobo, who retired as Chief Justice in 2011 - together with Professor Sharon Fonn, Dr Ntuthuko Bhengu, Dr Lungiswa Nkonki and Cornelis (Cees) van Gent - were on Thursday announced by the Commission as chairman and panellists to lead a market inquiry into the country’s private healthcare sector.
The five-member panel will preside over the market inquiry, oversee public hearings, review submissions, draft the inquiry report and produce its final recommendations.
“This is undoubtedly the best panel we could come up with. It has the right balance of skills, varied and distinguished experiences as well as impeccable integrity. In short, we have the right panel for this important task for the nation and we look forward to its recommendations,” Acting Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said.
The panel will be supported by a team of investigators comprising the Commission’s economists and lawyers and expert consultants.
The inquiry will probe the private healthcare sector holistically to determine the factors that restrict, prevent or distort competition and underlie increases in private healthcare prices and expenditure in South Africa.
The panel will gather evidence and insights into private healthcare through public hearings, reviews of secondary material, information requests, consultations and summons, as required. The inquiry will be completed by 30 November 2015.
The panel will issue administrative guidelines for the health inquiry in due course.
The administrative guidelines will set out the administrative timeline for the inquiry and will guide participants on the format and method for submitting information to the market inquiry. They will also set out the rules of proceedings for public hearings. – SAnews.gov.za
