READ: ‘Bogus’ KZN doctor selling sick notes exposed

Advertised on a dingy piece of board inside the stifling shipping container from which Dr MJ Maduma runs his ‘practice’, is the cost of a sick note, R80.

Dr Maduma denies that he sells sick notes and insists that he ensures that every patient who comes to him is, “checked,” before the need for sick leave is determined, but the Vryheid Herald knows better – because we bought a sick note from him.

The allegation that Dr Maduma may be fraudulently selling sick notes was brought to the Vryheid Herald’s attention by a local businessman, who became suspicious when he began to notice that certain members of staff were repeatedly bringing him sick notes signed and stamped by Dr Maduma.

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The investigation began with a phone call to Mischelle Julius, an inspector in the Legal Services Department of the Health Practitioners Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Julius said that Dr Maduma is not registered with the council, nor is he a qualified doctor. As such, he is not allowed to use Dr in his title. She confirmed that she had received several reports of Dr Maduma selling sick notes, and that a criminal case had been opened at Vryheid SAPS.

Constable MG Nyandeni of the Vryheid Detectives Unit declined to comment, but confirmed that a criminal case is being investigated.

On a scorching hot morning in December, the Vryheid Herald sent an intern journalist to Dr Maduma’s practice to see if he could buy a sick note.

He took a seat on one of the broken plastic chairs closest to the entrance and patiently waited his turn. There were five people ahead of him in the queue. When it was his turn, Dr Maduma ushered him from the waiting area to what we presume to be the consultation area. The waiting area is separated from the consultation area by large pieces of cloth pegged onto a line that runs across the shipping container.

Shortly after paying the money over, our perfectly healthy intern emerged from Dr Maduma’s practice, with a sick note affording him three days’ sick leave.

“He asked me what he should put on the sick note. I told him I didn’t know and asked him to suggest something. He said it wasn’t a problem and just wrote down ‘a medical condition’. Just like that, we were done,” said our intern.

The Vryheid Herald checked the practice number on the sick note with the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF), and no record of the practice number existed. Officials at the BHF confirmed that they are the only institution in South Africa that may issue a practice number.

However, traditional healers and practitioners of alternative medicine may also lawfully issue a sick note if they deem it necessary.

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No record of a Dr Maduma could be found by the Allied Healthcare Professionals of South Africa, the Traditional Healers Organisation, the South African Healers Association, or the African National Healers Association.

However, there are more than 20 traditional healers’ associations in South Africa, so we gave Dr Maduma the benefit of the doubt and asked him which one he belonged to, so that we could verify his registration. He couldn’t remember. “There are so many of them,” he explained. “I gave my certificate to the police for their investigation and I can’t remember the name of the association off-hand.”

W Bronkhorst, a director at the African National Healers Association, said there is an attempt being made to unite all of the traditional healers associations under one umbrella, so that only registered members would be able to issue medical certificates (sick notes).

“Until this happens, employers who suspect that an employee is misusing their sick leave can request a signed copy of the traditional healer’s registration certificate and South African ID document. If the staff member cannot produce these documents, the employer can withhold pay for the period that the employee was absent,” said Bronkhorst.

“No traditional healer can claim to have a practice number with the council yet, because the council is still being formed. It is not up and running yet.”

Lucky Mazibuko, who spoke on behalf of the South Africa Healers Association, was adamant that Dr Maduma needed to be stopped. “We need to do something. People like Dr Maduma are taking our work down and putting the good reputation of traditional healers at jeopardy. A sick note is only to be issued if somebody is sick. This is very serious. He is robbing the company his clients work for,” said Mazibuko.

According to a study conducted by Occupational Health Care South Africa, 15% of employees in the country are absent on any given day, of which only one in three are actually sick, and this misuse of sick days costs the economy billions.

Leon Prinsloo, chairperson of Vryheid’s Small Business Institute, says the misuse of sick leave puts undue pressure on other staff members and the company at large.

“It results in some people working double shifts, the company may have to pay overtime, and other members of staff have to work harder to ensure that the work is still being done at the same standard that is expected of the company. In fact, if people stopped misusing sick leave, the money saved by the company could actually be used toward further job creation,” said Prinsloo.

At the time of going to print, Dr Maduma still maintained that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

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