Many state-employed doctors are running multiple private practices and raking in millions of rands a year from medical aid claims.
|||Durban - A ten-month investigation by the KZN Health Department into state-employed doctors moonlighting, has revealed that many are running multiple private practices and are raking in millions of rands a year from medical aid claims.
This week, the Free State Department of Health banned public sector doctors from working in the private sector in a bid to stop the serious abuse of the public health system.
Twelve specialist anaesthetists at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Central Hospital also resigned this week after the department of health cancelled an agreement that allowed them to work one day a week in private practice to supplement their incomes.
Joe Maila, spokesman for Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said a policy document which aims to stop the abuse of the state health system, was being looked at.
He said employment agreements with doctors would also be tightened to put an end to private work during state time.
Maila refused to comment on whether a total ban would be put in place for private work, or if the number of hours allowed for remunerative work outside the public service would be reduced.
Dr Sibongile Zungu, head of the KZN Department of Health, said the investigation was at an advanced stage and it was a matter of time before the doctors were charged departmentally.
The doctors would be charged for using state time to earn privately.
In KZN, more than 250 doctors were being investigated as part of a probe by the provincial Health Department to identify specialists and medical officers who were reported to be doing more private work than independent doctors.
Zungu said: “Our investigations unit has received full co-operation from the various medical aids. We have submitted names to them and they have supplied us with print-outs of all the claims by doctors in our employ.”
The state-employed doctors were raking in millions of rands a year, Zungu said.
“We have also found that some of the doctors are running multiple private practices. From the evidence we have, it is clear they are neglecting state patients while collecting fees from private patients.”
She said when the investigation started, only 30 doctors had been identified.
“As we probed more and more, the numbers grew. Most of the state doctors are doing private work while on duty, on leave or officially off sick.”
Zungu said other than bringing the guilty doctors to book, the department planned to recoup all the money made privately during state time.
Zungu said while they were also clamping down on moonlighting, they did not foresee any threats of mass exodus of specialists quitting the public health sector.
“We are just compiling our annual report and I am pleased to report that there has been an upward trend in the number of health professionals joining our department in the last six months.”
She said while there was a shortage of state-employed specialists, the vacancies were being filled slowly but surely.
“There are enough general practitioners. We have a major shortage of specialists, pharmacists and radiographers,” she said.
“The money may not be good in the public health sector, but I encourage young health professionals to join us. Stay with us and you will emerge a pro.”
She said state-employed junior doctors gained valuable experience in a guided environment.
“To address the shortage and to ease the pressure on the specialists, we have increased the numbers of our mid-level workers. These workers are also given opportunities to study and develop themselves.”
Zungu said all vacant posts were regularly advertised.
She added that self-enrichment was also linked to the disappearance of equipment and medication from state hospitals.
“We found that a lot of our equipment and stock was missing.”
She said the investigation found staff at the hospital working in cahoots with false service providers.
“So far we have uncovered theft to the tune of R26 million.”
The matter was being investigated by police, Zungu said.
Daily News