News 11:00

BULLETIN 15 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The South African Medical Association says health care must be fixed before National Health Insurance will work
# President Vladimir Putin says Joe Biden’s presidency is better for Russia than Donald Trump’s
# And, tennis: Rafael Nadal wants to compete in the French Open and the Olympics

# The South African Medical Association says there are several healthcare issues to be fixed before the country will be ready to roll out the National Health Insurance system. SAMA chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa says issues like sewers freely flowing through hospitals, the lack of specialised medicine, and broken equipment will negatively impact the rollout of the NHI. Mzukwa says although SAMA fully supports a system of universal healthcare, the matter of unemployed medical professionals also needs to be addressed:

Meanwhile, SAMA’s three-day conference started in Sandton this morning. Mzukwa earlier warned the Health Department that the challenges faced by the health sector could lead to South African doctors leaving for other countries. Mzukwa says the conference will focus on many important healthcare issues:

 # Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis says the city’s latest annual Infrastructure Report confirms that the city’s 120-billion-rand ten-year pipeline project remains on track. The metro’s infrastructure investments are set to dwarf those of other cities in the country. Hill-Lewis says they are future-proofing the city by investing in infrastructure at a rate far outpacing any other metro. He says over the next three years, the metro will invest 43-billion-rand, which is more than Johannesburg and Durban combined:

# Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks a Joe Biden presidency would be better for Russia than a Donald Trump one. In an on-camera interview Wednesday with pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin, Putin said Biden would be better for Russia because he is more experienced, predictable, and a politician of an old formation. However, he added Russia would work with any leader trusted by the American people. Putin said he regretted not starting active actions in Ukraine earlier, claiming Western leaders had lied to Russia about not expanding NATO to the East.

# Tennis: The former world number one Rafael Nadal hopes to compete at this year’s French Open as well as the Olympics. The 37-year-old Spaniard has won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record 14 French Open crowns. In an interview on Wednesday, he said he didn’t know which events he had left to play, but it was not going to be many. Nadal pulled out of next week’s Qatar Open as he has not recovered from a torn muscle he suffered in Brisbane last month.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-2-cents and the euro at 20-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-89-cents and Bitcoin trades at 52-thousand-124-dollars-90-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-993-dollars-20-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-29-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….