This dream of a single national health system could be realised if South Africa is able to articulate a common vision for all its citizens.

But in a complex system such as the health sector, the ideal of universal health coverage as intended by the NHI is unlikely to be attained overnight with the passing of legislation.

Like the process of adapting to the challenges of a chronic disability, the South African health system must moreover cope with the inherent deficits in society resulting from the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, which created the enormous inequities that have been laid bare by the pandemic.

The fundamental divide between the for-profit value system of the private health sector on the one hand, and the human rights-based approach of the public sector on the other, needs to be bridged rather than deepened, building on the intersectoral innovations that the pandemic has elicited.

This COVID-19 pandemic highlights the fact that South Africa already has the technical expertise and capacity, in governance, in health economics, in health systems, in information systems, as well as in community participation in health.