The National Health Act: A Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction
National Health Act 61 of 2003
Chapters
1. Objectives of the Act, Responsibility for Health and Eligibility for Free Health Services
2. Rights and Duties of Users and Health Care Personnel
3. National Health
4. Provincial Health
5. District Health System
6. Health Establishments
7. Human Resources Planning and Academic Health Complexes
8. Control of Use of Blood, Blood Products, Tissue and Gametes in Humans
9. National Health Research and Information
10. Health Officers and Compliance Procedures
11. Regulations
12. General Provisions
Appendix “A”: Regulations published under the NHA
Appendix “B”: Other Important Health Legislation and Policy Documents
Appendix “C”: Contact Information for Health Bodies

About the Authors

Adila Hassim has a doctorate in law from St Louis University, Missouri (USA) that focuses on the legal protection of the right to health in South Africa. She also holds the BA, LLB (University of Natal) and LLM (St Louis University) degrees. She is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and a member of the Johannesburg Bar. She has worked at Section 27, formerly AIDS Law Project, since 2004 and is currently the head of litigation and legal services. Adila was a research clerk at the Constitutional Court in its early years and has continued passionately to defend constitutional rights, and socio-economic rights in particular.

Mark Heywood holds a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature (Oxford University) and an MA in African Literature (University of the Witwatersrand). He has been the head Section 27, formerly the AIDS Law Project, since 1997 and has been involved in promoting human rights around health and HIV for 15 years and in all the major constitutional litigation on HIV that has taken place since the start of South Africa’s constitutional democracy. Before that he was involved for a decade in the anti-apartheid struggle from London and later South Africa. He is also deeply interested in African and English literature.

Brian Honermann holds a JD from the Fordham University School of Law in New York USA.  His studies focused on human rights law, intellectual property rights and access to medicines. He has been a researcher with Section 27, formerly AIDS Law Project, since 2007. He was awarded the Tolan Fellowship in International Human Rights. While in law school, he interned with the Treatment Action Campaign and the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. Prior to law school, he co-owned and managed a fair-trade coffee shop and has an undergraduate degree in creative writing.