Statement from the The Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Medicine Society of South Africa (AAMSSA):

2 January 2020
Media Statement:
The Aesthetic and Anti-Aging Medicine Society of South Africa (AAMSSA) notes with grave concern the arrest of two colleagues following the death of a patient as a result of elective surgery. This unprecedented move by authorities raises serious concerns around the practice of Medicine in South Africa, with potential detrimental implications for the delivery of healthcare, including Anti-Aging and Aesthetic Medicine.
As a South African Medical Association (SAMA) affiliated Society, AAMSSA fully supports SAMA’s stance on this situation.
AAMSSA also emphasises that all doctors take a sacred oath to “first do no harm”, which guides the practice of medicine in South Africa.
AAMSSA seriously condemns the arrest of doctors, without due process being followed. This is not only most unusual but also, in our view dangerous, with probable serious implications.
We are sympathetic to any family that experiences loss in this manner. Doctors, as human beings and health care professionals, also feel grief at the loss of a patient. This should not however, prevent the Statutory Body: the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), from following due process.
In the end this development creates a precedent that may lead to doctors either leaving the profession or the country (where they are needed most).
AAMSSA supports SAMA in engaging both the Ministers of Health and Justice to develop a framework to protect doctors and their patients in future.

Dr Debbie Norval (AAMSSA President) and Dr Cobus van Niekerk (Medico-legal and Ethics Chair).