MORE than 500 cases of fraud, negligence and misconduct by health practitioners have been finalized during the past four years.
This was announced by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
According to the HPCSA report the most common cases were overcharging or charging for services not rendered, insufficient care and mismanagement of patients and incompetence.
HPCSA spokeswoman Bertha Peters Scheepers said the council was concerned at the number of fraud- related cases.
“We are concerned at the guilty verdicts and the impact this has on the healthcare industry,” she said.
She said they had taken a hardline against any form of fraudulent activity committed by healthcare practitioners registered with HPCSA.
Scheepers said the penalty of any reported case would be decided by the professional conduct committee based on all the evidence.
She said some of those found guilty had been fined between R20000 to R200000 or faced imprisonment and some were suspended for five years from the register.
She said HPCSA had advised health practitioners to notify them if they suspected colleagues of fraud.
The provincial department of health said they could not say how many complaints they had laid with the HPCSA’s ethics committee against various doctors.
Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said there were several state doctors who allegedly ran private practices while they were supposed to be working for the state.
Most of these alleged cases were in He said most common cases of doctors who ran private practices while they were supposed to be working in state hospitals was prevalent in Port Elizabeth and Mthatha.
Last year the Daily Dispatch accompanied health officials during a raid on a Mthatha state doctor who was running a private practice while she was supposed to be attending to patients at a state hospital.
Kupelo told the Dispatch yesterday the Mthatha doctor had resigned be the matter was submitted to the HPCSA.
Recently health minister Aaron Motsoaledi was quoted as being shocked by the findings of an investigation by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) on how doctors and nurses were defrauding the public health system.
“As far as remunerative work out side the public service (RWOPS) among doctors are concerned, we have done investigations and the results in some provinces are scary.
“We even brought in the Special Investigative Unit. Some doctors are doing scary things,” said Motsoaledi.
He said the results were shocking. There was a report which had not yet been released as it involved other agencies.
“We are just waiting to conclude our investigations,” he added.
Scheepers encouraged the public and other stakeholders such as medical schemes to report allegations of fraud by healthcare practitioners for further investigation by the HPCSA. —
Large-scale fraud cases of concern
This was announced by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
According to the HPCSA report the most common cases were overcharging or charging for services not rendered, insufficient care and mismanagement of patients and incompetence.
HPCSA spokeswoman Bertha Peters Scheepers said the council was concerned at the number of fraud- related cases.
“We are concerned at the guilty verdicts and the impact this has on the healthcare industry,” she said.
She said they had taken a hardline against any form of fraudulent activity committed by healthcare practitioners registered with HPCSA.
Scheepers said the penalty of any reported case would be decided by the professional conduct committee based on all the evidence.
She said some of those found guilty had been fined between R20000 to R200000 or faced imprisonment and some were suspended for five years from the register.
She said HPCSA had advised health practitioners to notify them if they suspected colleagues of fraud.
The provincial department of health said they could not say how many complaints they had laid with the HPCSA’s ethics committee against various doctors.
Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said there were several state doctors who allegedly ran private practices while they were supposed to be working for the state.
Most of these alleged cases were in He said most common cases of doctors who ran private practices while they were supposed to be working in state hospitals was prevalent in Port Elizabeth and Mthatha.
Last year the Daily Dispatch accompanied health officials during a raid on a Mthatha state doctor who was running a private practice while she was supposed to be attending to patients at a state hospital.
Kupelo told the Dispatch yesterday the Mthatha doctor had resigned be the matter was submitted to the HPCSA.
Recently health minister Aaron Motsoaledi was quoted as being shocked by the findings of an investigation by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) on how doctors and nurses were defrauding the public health system.
“As far as remunerative work out side the public service (RWOPS) among doctors are concerned, we have done investigations and the results in some provinces are scary.
“We even brought in the Special Investigative Unit. Some doctors are doing scary things,” said Motsoaledi.
He said the results were shocking. There was a report which had not yet been released as it involved other agencies.
“We are just waiting to conclude our investigations,” he added.
Scheepers encouraged the public and other stakeholders such as medical schemes to report allegations of fraud by healthcare practitioners for further investigation by the HPCSA. —
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