Dr Imran Keeka DA KZN spokesperson on Health has welcomed the move by Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi to curb fraudulent medico- legal claims.
Dr Imran Keeka DA KZN spokesperson on Health has welcomed the move by Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi to curb fraudulent medico- legal claims in South Africa.
KZN is ranked highest in the country with Gauteng at R24bn and the Eastern Cape with R22.3bn. This as the Special Investigating Unit investigates claims lodged against the Department of Health (DoH) across the country.
KZN has a total of 2 440 claims, with 713 of these currently under SIU investigation. This is a sharp increase from the end of 2023, where the contingent liability was almost R20 million with 1 678 cases.
“The DA is not surprised that KZN ranks highest in the country in terms of medico-legal claim contingent liability. The reality is that our province has a broken health-care system and to blame unscrupulous legal practitioners and staff is simply an embarrassment.
“Collusion, racketeering and unscrupulous behaviour are just one cut of the pie while human error on the part of health practitioners is another.
"Then there is the stark reality that health-care practitioners sometimes have their hands tied behind their backs, without sufficient equipment, medicines, ambulances and staff. The result is delays in getting to patients and providing the correct treatment while their health worsens.
“Yet another piece of the pie is KZN’s broken health-care system, inadequate record keeping, lost files, illegible writing and those who make money by selling files to crooked legal practitioners,” said Keeka.
Keeka added that to fix the problem, KZN’s government of provincial unity (GPU) must quickly begin to heal the fractured system.
The Mercury