Table 13 Possible future scenarios of family medicine in South Afric a[15].

In the most positive scenario the National Health Insurance is implemented with full focus on UHC, with PHC and family medicine at the heart of the health system, where FPs work in multidisciplinary teams in the community and in district rural hospitals.

In the continuation of present scenario, the system continues to struggle with resources and quality in the public sector, with family physicians not fully integrated in the health system and struggling with the low numbers, especially in rural and remote areas.

In the most pessimistic scenario, the National Health Insurance system is poorly implemented and family physicians leave for the private sector or overseas, the Department of Health decides to focus on other areas and end the deployment of family physicians.