Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
GAUTENG PROVINCIAL SERVICE COMMISSION PROBE INTO NATALSPRUIT HOSPITAL
The selective statement of the Democratic Party's health spokesman Jack Bloom on the GPSC's investigation at Natalspruit Hospital cannot be allowed to pass without comment.
Above all, the public should be told that now evidence could be found to support Mr Bloom's allegation that a particular gynaecologist was grossly negligent and cut the ureter of patients at leas five times while performing hysterectomies.
The investigating team found that the dossier of information to which Mr Bloom referred in a media release and in the Legislature did not exist - and that Mr Bloom acknowledged this. He has therefore misled the public on this count.
Allegations of gross negligence
The members of the investigating team also concluded:
"The allegations made by Mr Bloom are seen in a very serious light by the Gauteng Commission. It is a great concern to this Commission that allegations are made against professional people which cannot be proved nor can a witness be found that actually saw the alleged incidents or is willing to give evidence.
"The damage that something like this can do to a professional and to the hospital itself is immeasurable and not in the public interest."
The Commission recommended that unless aggrieved parties could produce evidence to prove the allegations against the doctor "these allegations should be withdrawn in the same way they were made".
The allegations were, in fact, very publicly made by Mr Bloom in a media release timed to coincide with the laying of his complaint with the GPSC in December last year.
It should be mentioned that the Gauteng Department of Health also attempted to investigate Mr Bloom's claims in December and January and invited him to submit evidence to assist this process. He failed to do so. The Department nevertheless investigated to the best of its ability without specific information.
The issue of limited private practice
The question of controlling the system whereby specialists are permitted to do limited private practice while in the government's employ is a vexed one. It is a practice, inherited from the past, with which the present government has grappled at national level over several years. The matter is presently being tackled in the Central Bargaining Chamber.
The Commission's comment on the weakness of the monitoring mechanism to regulate this practice is reasonable.
Immediate steps will have to be taken to put i place an interim monitoring system while a more comprehensive policy is being finalised.
It should be noted that the GPSC found that although doctors at Natalspruit were not working regular hours, the time they put in after hours ensured they worked the normal complement.
The report notes that some doctors actually work in excess of normal hours and that the arrangement "is probably good for patient care".
However, it also warns that the arrangement is a "precedent that may prove very difficult to control because of the lack of monitoring mechanisms".
Employment of specialists
The Health Department believes that it has not exceeded its delegated powers in appointing specialists without the approval of the Office of the GPSC and in a "direct" manner which may dispense with interviews.
While non-clinical posts of assistant director and higher must be approved by the GPSC, entry-level specialist posts are part of a group of clinical posts that are exempt from this position because of the need to fill them rapidly in order to sustain services.
Challenge to Mr Bloom
Mr Bloom's account of the outcome of the probe which he set in motion is a blatant distortion of the content. I challenge him to demonstrate his much-vaunted commitment to transparency by releasing the full report to the media.
Mondli Gungubele MEC for Health
Inquiries to: Popo Maja 082 373 1169