NETCARE - NETCARE WELCOMES SAMDP AS STRATEGIC BEE SHAREHOLDER IN NETPARTNER

NETCARE - NETCARE WELCOMES SAMDP AS STRATEGIC BEE SHAREHOLDER IN NETPARTNER     
NETWORK HEALTHCARE HOLDINGS LIMITED                                             
(Registration number 1996/008242/06)                                            
Code: NTC                                                                       
ISIN number: ZAE000011953                                                       
("Netcare")                                                                     
NETCARE WELCOMES SAMDP AS STRATEGIC BEE SHAREHOLDER IN NETPARTNER               
INTRODUCTION                                                                    
Netcare, Netpartner Investments Limited ("Netpartner") and the South African    
Medical and Dental Practitioners Association ("SAMDP") today announced an       
empowerment transaction in terms of which the SAMDP will be acquiring an        
immediate 10% stake in Netpartner via a new issue of shares by Netpartner for   
cash.  In terms of the agreement the SAMDP has been given the opportunity to    
increase this shareholding to 26% within the short term.                        
RATIONALE                                                                       
The SAMDP transaction will significantly enhance the network base of Netpartner 
by approximately 3 000 healthcare providers, placing it in a meaningful,        
strategic position within the South African healthcare market.  The transaction 
increases the number of healthcare professionals as shareholders in Netpartner  
to more than 10 000, with approximately 4 700 being from previously             
disadvantaged communities.  The SAMDP membership of doctors, dentists and       
specialists also include practitioners employed at Academic Institutions and in 
the Public Sector.                                                              
The SAMDP will also participate at an operational level within the Netpartner   
structure with members of the SAMDP being appointed to the boards of Netpartner,
Netdirect (Netpartner"s managed care subsidiary) and Medicross, in which        
Netpartner has a 20% strategic stake.                                           
OBJECTIVE                                                                       
Netpartner"s stated objective is to bring "Better Care to More People" via an   
alternative reimbursement model which offers patients a simpler, better product 
at more affordable prices.                                                      
TRANSFORMATION                                                                  
Importantly, the 3 000 doctors associated with the SAMDP serve underprivileged  
communities throughout South Africa. Their collective association with          
Netpartner will ensure the important benefit of being able to provide greater   
access to healthcare to those who are most in need of it.                       
Netpartner is committed to restructuring certain current healthcare             
reimbursement systems into new systems that promote and reward the delivery of  
high quality, cost-effective `health care" rather than the delivery of `sick    
care".  The most effective of these structures that has worked successfully in  
other countries is the Health Maintenance Organization ("HMO") implemented by   
various US-based healthcare organisations, good examples of which include Sierra
Health Plan and Kaiser Permanente.                                              
In HMO-type models, the financing and delivery of care is integrated with       
payments often made on a per-member-per-month basis rather than for each visit, 
treatment or procedure.  This will improve affordability and accessibility and  
is aligned with Government"s strategy on Social Health Insurance.               
CONCLUSION                                                                      
The investment by the SAMDP places Netpartner in an ideal position to offer an  
all-encompassing and highly affordable healthcare service across all            
disciplines, on a broad geographic scale.  The Netpartner provider model        
facilitates an effective, fully integrated solution to medical schemes through  
pro-active provider participation.  Together with Netcare"s infrastructure, and 
other contracted provider capacity, it offers the most extensive provider       
network in South Africa.  The SAMDP value proposition provides Netpartner with a
much needed interface with patients in some of the more remote parts of the     
country while bolstering Netpartner"s presence in the lower income market.  The 
members of the SAMDP on the other hand will benefit by being able to provide    
existing and future patients with a suite of affordable healthcare products, the
costs of which can be economically managed.                                     
Netcare currently owns 48% of Netpartner (which percentage is likely to be      
maintained in terms of the commencing subscription agreement) and fully supports
the broad based participation of the SAMDP as a "mile-stone for transformation" 
in South Africa. In addition to the shareholder and strategic support for this  
transaction, Netcare has provided certain guarantees to allow for the initial   
investment by the SAMDP into Netpartner.                                        
Importantly, the macro benefits of the intended Netpartner offering, is that    
patients will benefit from measured quality healthcare at more affordable prices
and hopefully this initiative will be one of the catalysts to bring the public  
and private sectors closer together.                                            
The anticipated benefits of the strategic alliance with the SAMDP, Netpartner"s 
business model and the introduction of alternative reimbursive methods to make  
private healthcare more affordable and increase the number of insured lives, is 
seen as significant to the enhancement of stakeholder value going forward.      
15 November 2004                                                                
Sandton                                                                         
Sponsor                                                                         
Merrill Lynch South Africa (Pty) Limited                                        
Date: 15/11/2004 12:32:03 PM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
Produced by the JSE SENS Department