The South African Medical Association has for years raised concerns about the criminalisation of medical errors, stressing that current legal practices may undermine patient safety and deter doctors from performing high-risk procedures. Spotlight’s Thabo Molelekwa investigates.
As of last year, there were 3 449 people waiting on orthopaedic surgery in five of South Africa’s nine provinces. Waiting times in these five provinces ranged from two weeks to over five years. In the Eastern Cape, it can take up to ten years for people to get specific types of orthopaedic surgery. Tiyese Jeranji looks at the numbers and unpacks what it means for healthcare workers and people waiting for orthopaedic surgery.
In recent years damning findings from the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, the Public Service Commission, and the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been piling up against the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Luvuyo Mehlwana asks what value clinic committees and hospital boards can add to help improve public healthcare services in the province.
It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against the South African government are cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and families, cerebral palsy thus also has a major impact on health budgets. In this second article in a two-part series, Elri Voigt asks what can be done to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy in the country. In part 1 we looked at what we know about cerebral palsy in South Africa.
It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against the South African government are cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and families, cerebral palsy thus also has a major impact on health budgets. In this first article in a two-part series, Elri Voigt asks what we know about cerebral palsy in South Africa. In part 2 we will look at what can be done to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy in the country.
The South African Law Reform Commission recently published its discussion paper on medico-legal claims. Baone Twala unpacks the Commission’s proposals on law reform and what it may mean for claimants and the government.
With the State Liability Amendment Bill reintroduced in Parliament and a recently published discussion paper from the South African Law Reform Commission, the way medical negligence claims are handled in South Africa may soon change. Spotlight editor Marcus Low unpacks some of the legislative and other options on the table.
COVID-19 will continue to dominate headlines in 2022, but from National Health Insurance to the availability of a new HIV prevention injection, it will also be an important year for other areas of health service delivery and for health system governance and reforms. Here is Spotlight’s pick of the top ten issues to keep an eye on.
Rates of Serious Adverse Events that result in unintended harm to patients are disturbingly high in Gauteng public hospitals. Thabo Molelekwa spoke to health activists and government to see what is at the root of these risks to patient safety and what is done to curb it.
Medico-legal claims in the public healthcare sector have been sharply increasing since at least 2014 and are taking huge bites out of already stretched provincial budgets. Motheo Brodie and Sasha Stevenson of SECTION27 assess what impact a recent court judgment and proposed legislation might have on the problem.
Between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ongoing new dawn and important healthcare reforms, 2020 will be a critically important year for healthcare in South Africa. Spotlight formulated eight questions to set out what is at stake.
