With the dust not yet settled on the health department's bid to regulate medicine prices, another messy conflict over state regulation of private health care looms large. A decade-long attempt to provide a unified health system that includes both public and private sector providers took concrete form on Friday, when President Thabo Mbeki signed the long awaited National Health Bill into law. The move is set to spark loud protest from doctors and private hospital groups, anxious about clauses in the legislation designed to regulate their services.