Statistics South Africa says that 81% of households using public healthcare services in 2017 were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the provisions they receive at public facilities. News24 reports that this follows the completion of Stats SA’s general household survey (GHS) for 2017. It also tracked trends starting from 2002.

With regard to public healthcare in 2017, chief director of social statistics Dr Isabelle Schmidt said that less than 17% of the population had medical aid cover. Of those, only the two “wealthier provinces” of Gauteng and Western Cape were above the 16.9% national average, with 25% and 24.8% private cover respectively. The Northern Cape (16.3%), North West (15.5%), Free State (14.9%), Mpumalanga (13.9%), KwaZulu-Natal (12.6%), Eastern Cape (9.9%) and Limpopo (8.3%) were all below the national average.

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