Doctors’ concerns: We are working on it says Department of Health (SA)
Oct 11, 2020
Following a recent letter issued to the media earlier this month in which several medical organisations expressed their deep concern over the lack of government’s engagement with the medical profession relating to a number of serious issues threatening the delivery of healthcare in the country, the South African Medical Association this week hosted a webinar allowing doctors to directly interact with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and officials of his department. https://www.change.org/p/south-african-department-of-justice-and-the-npa-dropitandwait-sa-doctor-s-profession-patient-care-under-threat/u/27774568
Top of mind was the precedent created by the criminal prosecution of Prof Peter Beale and the murdered Dr Abdhulay Munshi without the HPCSA having completed its inquest into the alleged medical negligence and the failure of the criminal justice system to recognise and implement the processes determined by the Inquest Act of 1959 stipulating that recommendations for criminal prosecutions relating to any death related to pre- post and peri-operational procedures should only follow the completion of the inquest by the HPCSA.
According to the Minister, the Department has met with the President of the HPCSA, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Minister of Justice during which doctors’ concerns were raised that the case has created a precedent, causing doctors to feel that the practicing of their profession has become more risky when they are criminalised. During the discussions, Mkhize said, it was agreed that more details of the case should be shared with the DPP and other law enforcement agencies to look at some kind of Memorandum of Understanding aimed at setting a framework on how to deal with similar cases in the future. He said the outcome of the discussions will be shared with doctors within the next two weeks but warned that it is unlikely to stop the legal process instituted against Prof Beale and the late Dr Munshi.
He said while the DPP has conceded that proper processes have not been followed in the case, it is unlikely that the legal processes that have been instituted against the doctors could be stopped at this point.
“You cannot just stop the prosecution once a case is in court, but maybe once we have all the details about how the situation was allowed to happen, measures can be implemented. However, because the matter is already in court, it will not be correct for us to continue speculating about what will be done. What is important for us is to talk about the procedure to make sure that health professionals and the Department of Justice and DPP are on the same wavelength and know how to deal with the situation if something like this arises in the future.”
Once the department’s engagements with the relevant law enforcement authorities have been finalised to establish why there were differences in approach in this case and what needs to be done with similar cases in the future, the outcome will be shared with SAMA and other affected parties to get their input, Mkhize said.
https://medbriefafrica.co.za/doctors-concerns-we-are-working-on-it-says-doh/
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