Equitable rationing of highly specialised health care services for children: a perspective from South Africa

The principles of equality and equity, respectively in the Bill of Rights a nd the white paper on health, provide the moral and legal foundations for f uture health care for children in South Africa. However, given extreme heal th care need and scarce resources, the government faces formidable obstacle s if it hopes to achieve a just allocation of public health care resources, especially among children in need of highly specialised health care. In th is regard, there is a dearth of moral analysis which is practically useful in the South African situation. We offer a set of moral considerations to g uide the macro-allocation of highly specialised public health care services among South Africa's children. We also mention moral considerations which should inform micro-allocation.