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 This is fraud. These doctors are stealing our time and go run their practices while they are expected to be at work 

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THE Eastern Cape department of health has pounced on a state doctor running her private practice while she was supposed to be attending to patients at a state hospital in Mthatha.

The doctor, who earns approximately over R1-million from the State annually, was caught by department officials working in her private office instead of the state hospital.

The raid was conducted on Thursday by Dr Mbuyiselo Madiba of the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital together with provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo.

The doctor, who is employed at the hospital’s dental clinic, owns a private practice in Owen Street.

When confronted by Madiba at the practice on why she wasn’t at the hospital, the doctor allegedly fled into an office and did not emerge again.

According to a nurse at the practice, the doctor arrives at her surgery at about 10am in the mornings where she tends to her patients until 1pm. It is alleged she then goes to the state hospital after 2pm.

When officials and the Dispatch visited the dental clinic at the hospital where the doctor was supposed to be attending to patients, a nurse on duty confirmed the story.

"This morning she said she would see 10 patients, but left at 10am and never returned," the nurse said.

The provincial department of health has laid complaints against various doctors with the national Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) ethics committee, but could not say how many.

Kupelo said this was not an isolated incident as there were allegedly a number of state doctors who run private practices while they are supposed to be at work.

“A number of doctors have been found to be doing this and that has led the Mthatha hospital alone to have over 200 litigations as the hospital relies on interns,” said Kupelo. “This is fraud. These doctors are stealing our time and go run their practices while they are expected to be at work.”

The spokesman said the department was inundated with calls from irate patients complaining about the shortage of doctors in hospitals.

“We are short of doctors and everyday we have long queues at hospitals, patients complain.

“The doctors are paid for a whole day’s work. We are losing lives because doctors are not at their workplace. This is the kind of behaviour that is giving the department a bad name.”

Health department head, Dr Siva Pillay, confirmed they had laid complaints with the Health Professions Council.

“We want them to investigate fraud and unethical behaviour against these doctors. We are also in a process of instituting disciplinary processes against many of them,” Pillay said.

He added that the problem was most prevalent in the Mthatha and Port Elizabeth areas.

Pillay said only doctors with special permission from the MEC were allowed to operate private practices.

“Only two doctors in the Eastern Cape have that permission. Others are doing it illegally,” he said.

HPCSA chief executive Dr Buyiswa Mjamba-Matshoba confirmed that her body had received a complaint from the provincial department.

“The matter is an employer-employee issue and therefore should be dealt with at that level,” Mjamba-Matshoba said.

She said the HPCSA investigated complaints against individual healthcare practitioners registered with it. “Therefore, if the employer finds any proof of unprofessional conduct by healthcare practitioners, these can be reported to the HPCSA for further investigations,” she added.

Kupelo, however, said he was not aware of this as they had not received a formal response from the HPCSA yet.

Comments

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Wed Jun 19 06:35:03 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 13, 2012

somaartakeit

It is very sad a person who earns this much still wants to commit fraud, Sowetan please update us on the outcome of this story.
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Jul 13, 2012

mthosam

Corrupt like everyone. Corrupt country, stinking corrupt. who cares, its a culture.
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Jul 13, 2012

Mellow

Iyooo very soon SA wont have any doctors mos cause almost all of them are fraudsters
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Jul 13, 2012

JohnStone

Earning over a million rand per annum, are SA doctors not "overworked, underpaid and neglected by the ANC govt"? We have been condemning politicians whereas the real problem lies with those who took an oaths to serve and save lives.
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Jul 13, 2012

KukuyaLethosa

I wrote a long letter to Dr Motswaledi some time in January 2012 complaining about service in public hospitals in rural areas. In hospitals like Jane Furse hospital in Limpopo, Dr comes only once a week or when called for critical patient. All he does is to attend to the "already dying" patients or casualties and calls it a day. Where does he disappear to, no one knows. The behavior of doctors and nurses in public hospitals in Limpopo and other rurals areas is very disgusting and horrific. Many lives are lost in our public hospitals today than during apartheid regime, why? Because we're now being killed by our own black people due to greed and lack of passion for the profession. Cry my beloved country.
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Jul 14, 2012

Pointman

She is not the only one, other state officials are doing the same. I was in EC recently visiting a business - and the partner of the business manager that pitched up was from the judicial services - in the middle of the day. I thought to myself - so who is doing his job while he is here attending to his private business.
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Jul 14, 2012

wendyyah

tjo tjo ya iyadliwa imali emzantsi
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Jul 14, 2012

Bebesocs

This should not come as a surprise but it is just unfortunate that they chose a female doctor, this did not start yesterday or today it first started to be known when doctor Bevan Goqwana was the minister of health , medicines started to get missing from stores and some of the medicine was delivered to doctor's surgeries. What this doctor has been found doing is done by most of the doctors , bear in mind these people work hard and do not get paid on time. Doctor Mbuyiselo Madiba knows a lot about what doctors do in Mthatha he himself has been a doctor in that Mthatha and he knows how doctors are treated by the department, he knows very well when doctors go on for a long time with out pay, and he knows very well the conditions under which these people work, the conditions of the UGH is appauling and he knows that and even when Dr Goqwana was in Bisho there was no improvement at all so Dr Madiba must not come to the play as if he did not know. Patients still sleep on the floor in maternity ward and mothers in paediatric ward still sleep on the floor, Mr Kupelo and Dr Madiba must just not target doctors must look at the broad picture of the situation of UGH. Those two hospitals especially UGH does not even have the new electric beds that the voters can use, I do not want to talk about the shortage of nurses its TERRIBLE. They once said they will get nurses from the streets...We Will see, now the very person wants a job from OAU.
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Jul 15, 2012

Alabaster

that doctor must go jail for five years he deserve thy are corrupt.
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Jul 15, 2012

romzido

Sensationalism... earning over 1 million a year. would like to see that. likely incorrect SOWETAN.
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