The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) that registers and manages doctors‚ dentists‚ physiotherapists and other health professions including paramedics is in a “state of multi-system” failure.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi set up a task team‚ headed by Professor Bongani Mayosi‚ Dean of UCT’s Health Faculty‚ to investigate the HPCSA after more than 30 letters from whistle blowers were written to the council’s leadership.
The high level task team was set to take 60 days but took six months due to the load of work.
It found the HPCSA was completely “dysfunctional” and in a state of administrative malaise. One finding was that the body represented the interests of too many professions from an ambulance assistant who trains for only six weeks to a specialist doctor with 15 years of training.
The task team became aware of a forensic investigation into the HPCSA by KMPG in 2011 that had uncovered tender irregularities in the awarding of a R30 million rand IT tender.
The KMPG report had suggested that disciplinary procedures be implemented against individuals involved in the tender including the then head of legal services.
But instead the head of legal services at the HPCSA was promoted to chief operating officer.
The current chief operating officer also took the HPCSA to court because he had not been made CEO. He lost the case with costs‚ meaning he must pay for the HPCSA’s legal costs. He has not done this and remains in his leadership position.
The HPCSA investigates doctors’ conduct if members of the public and other doctors lay complaints about doctors’ treatment or ethics. But the department that holds disciplinary enquiries was criticised for not containing a single health professional.
Instead it was dominated by lawyers taking adversarial action against doctors‚ bemoaned the task team.
“There is nothing wrong with integrity of the process and doctors who judged other doctors‚ but the management of the process was not ideal‚” said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
Cases and complaints against doctors take years to be finalised‚ he said. This meant the public and doctors had lost faith in the HPCSA‚ he said
The task team found the current CEO‚ the current chief operating officer and the head of legal services were not fit for their positions and recommended they be suspended and disciplinary processes instituted. These three individuals refused to meet with the task team‚ despite multiple invitations to do so.
The new council of the HPCSA now has to decide whether to implement the task team’s findings including whether to suspend the three senior staff.
The council will report back to the health minister within a week.
One of the strongest findings was that the HPCSA was a “gigantic” body that was too big for its purpose and should be split in two. It contains 27 sub committees.
The task team said the HPCSA should revert back to the Medical and Dental Council that used to register doctors and dentists and a second council that would that register therapists including physiotherapists‚ speech therapists‚ podiatrists‚ paramedics and occupational therapists.
The HPCSA council also has six months to report back to the minister on how it will implement the 2011 KPMG report findings.
Health council in ‘state of multi-system’ failure
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi set up a task team‚ headed by Professor Bongani Mayosi‚ Dean of UCT’s Health Faculty‚ to investigate the HPCSA after more than 30 letters from whistle blowers were written to the council’s leadership.
The high level task team was set to take 60 days but took six months due to the load of work.
It found the HPCSA was completely “dysfunctional” and in a state of administrative malaise. One finding was that the body represented the interests of too many professions from an ambulance assistant who trains for only six weeks to a specialist doctor with 15 years of training.
The task team became aware of a forensic investigation into the HPCSA by KMPG in 2011 that had uncovered tender irregularities in the awarding of a R30 million rand IT tender.
The KMPG report had suggested that disciplinary procedures be implemented against individuals involved in the tender including the then head of legal services.
But instead the head of legal services at the HPCSA was promoted to chief operating officer.
The current chief operating officer also took the HPCSA to court because he had not been made CEO. He lost the case with costs‚ meaning he must pay for the HPCSA’s legal costs. He has not done this and remains in his leadership position.
The HPCSA investigates doctors’ conduct if members of the public and other doctors lay complaints about doctors’ treatment or ethics. But the department that holds disciplinary enquiries was criticised for not containing a single health professional.
Instead it was dominated by lawyers taking adversarial action against doctors‚ bemoaned the task team.
“There is nothing wrong with integrity of the process and doctors who judged other doctors‚ but the management of the process was not ideal‚” said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
Cases and complaints against doctors take years to be finalised‚ he said. This meant the public and doctors had lost faith in the HPCSA‚ he said
The task team found the current CEO‚ the current chief operating officer and the head of legal services were not fit for their positions and recommended they be suspended and disciplinary processes instituted. These three individuals refused to meet with the task team‚ despite multiple invitations to do so.
The new council of the HPCSA now has to decide whether to implement the task team’s findings including whether to suspend the three senior staff.
The council will report back to the health minister within a week.
One of the strongest findings was that the HPCSA was a “gigantic” body that was too big for its purpose and should be split in two. It contains 27 sub committees.
The task team said the HPCSA should revert back to the Medical and Dental Council that used to register doctors and dentists and a second council that would that register therapists including physiotherapists‚ speech therapists‚ podiatrists‚ paramedics and occupational therapists.
The HPCSA council also has six months to report back to the minister on how it will implement the 2011 KPMG report findings.
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