NATIONAL NEWS - The South African Medical Association and Nehawu KZN welcomed the recent court ruling declaring policies that denied free healthcare services to foreign pregnant women and young children unlawful.
The Gauteng high court has compelled the Department of Health to grant free public health services to pregnant and lactating women, and children under the age of six, regardless of their nationality or documentation status (asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, or persons affected by statelessness).
As part of Section 4(3) of the National Health Act, these rights override the instruction by the Gauteng Health Department, which in 2020 set out to charge migrants for these public health services.
Additionally, the court stated that any other similar policies or circulars are invalid and the national Department of Health was also ordered to direct provinces to prominently display notices and posters in all public health facilities by July 17, stating that: all pregnant women; all breastfeeding women; and all children under the age of six are entitled to free health services irrespective of their nationality or documentation status, unless they belong to a medical scheme or have travelled to South Africa for the sole purpose of obtaining healthcare.
The South African Medical Association (Sama) has welcomed the decision of the Gauteng High Court, adding that its members and all healthcare workers had an ethical duty of care for patients they manage.
“This cannot be constrained by unethical political mandates.”
“Given that healthcare resources are not limitless, coupled with challenges of poor healthcare services in the public sector, the association is of the view that signed memorandums of understanding between South Africa and the countries of origin of these patients are necessary for the payment of costs incurred when healthcare services are rendered to their citizens,” said Sama CEO Dr Vusumuzi Nhlapho.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union’s (Nehawu) provincial secretary Ayanda Zulu said the union stood behind equal healthcare for all.
We also believe in international solidarity. We are of the view that people who flee their countries to seek healthcare in South Africa are doing so because they had no choice and were escaping political hardships in their own countries.
Zulu said he was aware that the Health Department is understaffed and overburdened. However, it is the KZN Health Department’s duty to ensure that it hired more healthcare professionals.
KZN medical practitioner Dr Atiya Mosam said healthcare is a human right and people should not be made to suffer as a consequence of their nationality or status in a country.
That being said, given that the public sector healthcare workers are overloaded, the solution is not to deny services to those in need; rather, the government needs to ensure that resources are in place to deliver services to all those that do.
To address the issue of overburdened health facilities, the KZN MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane in her budget vote speech said more than 11 clinics were being built and four district hospitals were being upgraded in KZN.
We are finalising our plans for the construction of nine new clinics, and two community health centres, which we will start building in August.
“The proposed new bed numbers for each hospital have been finalised as follows: Bethesda Hospital, from 200 to 300 beds; Christ the King Hospital, from 210 to 300 beds; Dundee Hospital, from 204 to 270 beds, and Vryheid Hospital from 338 to 540 beds,” she said.
Simelane added that for the 2023/24 year, 1 170 medical interns and 1 270 community service personnel have been allocated in various categories across provincial facilities.
The Health Department was unable to provide comment on the court ruling by the time of publication.
