Doctors face disciplinary action for speaking

29 June 2012

THE Eastern Cape Health Department has started disciplinary action against the three rebel Port Elizabeth specialist doctors who held an "unauthorised” media conference earlier this week to highlight massive staff shortages.

Cardiologist Basil Brown, surgeon Sats Pillay and paediatric surgeon Lungile Pepeta received letters yesterday asking them for reasons why they should not be charged with misconduct.

A total of 28 doctors have resigned from the city’s hospitals since January and none have been replaced.

Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said though the doctors had spoken on behalf of the 20 heads of the different departments at the complex, the department had decided to take steps only against those who "physically spoke to the media”.

"The steps taken against them will be decided on by the head of the disciplinary inquiry,” he said.

Doctors at the complex say they can no longer deliver a service of the standard that the Health Professions Council expects from them and that they are forced, due to budget constraints, to severely curb the services they offer.

In some units, two doctors see the same number of patients that would normally be handled by a team of seven medical specialists at other state hospitals.

Kupelo said the department was attending to the staffing problems and two officials had been moved from the provincial Treasury to the department to streamline the appointment of new doctors.

"There is no moratorium on the appointment of staff ... but there are budget constraints,” Kupelo said.

Meanwhile, Hospersa, the Health and Other Services Personnel Union of South Africa, said yesterday that earlier this year, according to figures from the government’s human resources system, Persal, and the national Treasury’s database, there were 27267 vacant posts in the Eastern Cape health service.

Reader's Comments

Report Abuse Author: thirsty Date: 30 June 2012 9:21

You see Paul this is the sort of thing you should moan about, > How the Government wants an info bill to shut these doctors up, we must rather help these doctors by changing the management. > How the Health department has been mismanaged > How The Department of Education cannot deliver books to schools half way through the year > How millions and millions of Tax money and rates and taxes money is being wasted and used for other purposes other than what it is budgeted for. see Kabuso report.

Report Abuse Author: BigSus Date: 29 June 2012 14:10

Why oh why! It seems as if those higher up in Govt do not care for the well-being of us ordinary Joe. Why act against these doctors when they could be remedying the ills in the DEPT

Report Abuse Author: VernE Date: 29 June 2012 12:52

Why do they have to waste further time on getting their house in order by this action? They should be focussed on dealing with the deficiencies and communicating proof of such dealing to the media rather.

Report Abuse Author: MikeRoss Date: 29 June 2012 12:07

The government is really ridiculous here. Here we have award winning doctors speaking out against the poor conditions in the Eastern Cape hospitals and the best the government can do is punish them for not keeping quiet? Zuma and the ANC really need to get there act together. What they should be doing is helping the doctors sort out the crisis. These doctors provide a life saving service to the country while Kupelo is nothing but a waste of our tax payers money

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