A VIDEO of Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba lashing out at a Zimbabwean patient at a provincial government hospital has sparked an outcry.
The MEC is heard telling the patient that migrants are to blame for her department’s stretched budget. Dr Angelique Coetzee, a Solidarity Doctors Network board member, said the MEC was out of line.
“This patient is a victim of the drama between the two countries. Even if they cross the border illegally to get health services, it’s not their fault. She [the MEC] wasn’t supposed to embarrass her like that in front of people. “It was unethical, unprofessional and out of line. She should have addressed that at a different level,” Coetzee said.
She added that the constitution makes it compulsory for anyone to receive emergency medical attention. Dr Mike Ramothwala, from the Limpopo department of health, endorsed the MEC’s statements, saying: “The last statistics showed that 80 percent of women giving birth at Musina hospital are illegal Zimbabweans and SA women sometimes didn’t find beds to give birth on. We are trying to fix our healthcare system but we can never do it unless what our MEC is saying is addressed.”
While some on social media agreed with the MEC, many felt the patient was unfairly treated by her and the watching officials who laughed mockingly during the outburst. EFF politicians denounced the MEC’s actions, with Mbuyiseni Ndlozi tweeting, “This is an outright violation of human rights.
She thinks she is making some brilliant points, with an ill-informed pompous attitude! “Why agonise sick persons in hospital beds? Where is your basic humanity and compassion?” The party’s Floyd Shivambu accused the MEC of violating the Hippocratic Oath, which obliges all physicians/doctors to “abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. This is unfair abuse and discrimination,” said Shivambu.
In 2019, AfricaCheck analysed government officials’ assertions that SA’s public hospitals were overburdened by foreign patients, and found a lack of proof to back up the statements. Asked what effect migrants have on the health system, Jo Veary, associate professor with the African Centre for Migration & Society, told Africa Check “at a national level, very little”. — Timeslive