decisions on how to use it [...] If there was no such separation, there
is no one to safeguard and protect the people’s right to health
care […] However, how well the purchaser performs depends on
the vision of the office, including a system design that ensures good
governance.
Many of the changes required to realize this division of roles and responsibilities
fully were highly controversial, and problems were exacerbated by the political
decision to implement the UCS well before the core institutions and mechanisms
were in place. There were conflicts between the MOPH and NHSO, some slowing
of the planned reform timetable, and various difficulties in UCS implementation
at central and peripheral levels (discussed below).