Network Healthcare Holdings Limited - Netcare included in JSE SRI Index

Network Healthcare Holdings Limited - Netcare included in JSE SRI Index         
NETWORK HEALTHCARE HOLDINGS LIMITED                                             
(Co. Reg. No. 1996/008242/06)                                                   
Code: NTC                                                                       
ISIN number: ZAE000011953                                                       
Netcare included in JSE SRI Index                                               
Netcare today announced that its inclusion as one of the 51 companies in South  
Africa to successfully qualify for the Socially Responsible Investment ("SRI")  
Index launched by the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa ("JSE") on 19 May    
2004 confirms the Group"s dedication to being a progressive South African       
corporate, and bears testimony to its commitment and contribution to the        
community and the social welfare of South Africa ("SA").                        
The SRI Index is the first index of its nature in an emerging market and the    
first in the world to be launched by an exchange. The index serves to identify  
those companies listed on the JSE that integrate principles of SRI and          
sustainability within their business activities. These companies are able to    
demonstrate compliance with a broad range of socially responsible goals.        
Netcare is proud to have met the required standards and become part of the SRI  
Index. The support the Group provides is wide ranging with a deliberate focus on
health and healthcare-related social and community undertakings.                
This is particularly evident from the following non-exhaustive list of social   
responsibility initiatives:                                                     
-    the significant time, financial and human resource contributions made      
gratuitously by Netcare 911 through providing world class emergency medical
     services to indigent patients nationwide;                                  
-    sponsorship and support to a number of healthcare education-based          
     programmes in South Africa;                                                
-    participation in the establishment of the Walter Sisulu Cardiac Institute  
     for Africa ("WSCIA"), a cardiology centre of excellence specialising in    
     paediatric cardiac medicine, which, through a section 21 company (Not for  
     profit), strives to reduce mortality associated with congenital heart      
disease for all the children of Africa;                                    
-    responsibility in relation to the challenges that HIV / Aids poses to civil
     society and government in South Africa by offering HIV / Aids services in  
     the private primary healthcare setting and establishing an Imbizo Project  
designed to raise awareness on the impact of HIV / Aids on the individual, 
     the workplace and the community at large;                                  
-    the commitment to Black Economic Empowerment ("BEE") through several       
     initiatives to expand BEE in procurement criteria, joint ventures and in   
models for equity participation;                                           
-    the facilitation of an organ donor register as well as the dissemination of
     regional organ procurement skills training to medical personnel;           
-    the numerous and continuous efforts to establish and develop meaningful    
public private partnerships with Government;                               
-    the focus on expanding training and development to improve service levels  
     and encourage personal growth amongst its personnel, a commitment which    
     entails substantial investment in nurse and staff training throughout the  
Netcare Group and in its Training Academy; and                             
-    in addition to the broad policy-based social responsibility activities, the
     endeavours by management within hospitals in the Group to be actively      
     involved in a wide variety of community based projects throughout our      
country.                                                                   
Netcare"s commitment as a socially responsible South African corporate citizen  
is importantly also to ensure that the Group continues to attract and retain    
leading medical and healthcare professionals, as well as provide the very best  
in patient care and medical technology, so that all South Africans will have    
access to world class affordable and quality healthcare for generations to come.
Through this, Netcare is dedicated to good corporate citizenship and will       
continue to focus its strategy on being an integral part of building a          
sustainable economy and environment that will attract meaningful investment,    
create sustainable employment and develop our people.                           
27 May 2004                                                                     
Sponsor                                                                         
Merrill Lynch South Africa                                                      
Date: 27/05/2004 01:53:16 PM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
Produced by the JSE SENS Department