The right of access to healthcare not limited to SA citizens – public health lawyer

Politicians have called for the head of Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba, who berated a patient for daring to seek medical assistance in “her hospital” in a viral video.

Mnangagwa did not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget

Ramathuba was heard telling an alleged Zimbabwean patient scheduled for surgery at the Bela-Bela Hospital to take responsibility for her health issues and not expect South Africa to do so.

When she heard the patient spoke Shona, Ramathuba went on the attack.

“You speak Shona? Then how did you find yourself in Bela-Bela?” she asked. Ramathuba said Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa did not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget.

“You are supposed to be with Mnangagwa. You are killing my health system. When you guys are sick, you just say, ‘let’s cross the Limpopo river, there’s a MEC there who’s running a charity department’.”

Public health lawyer Safura Abdool Karim said while the constitution guaranteed the right of access to healthcare, it was not limited to South African citizens.

SA’s public healthcare system not totally free

According to Abdool Karim, there were judgments following a previous constitutional case that stated even if there were resource constraints, there should not be discrimination between citizens and noncitizens.

“This is even more important when it comes to healthcare,” she said.

ALSO READ: ‘I stand by my words’: Limpopo Health MEC calls on SADC countries to pay for their citizens

Ramathuba told the patient she was confined to the hospital until she paid her medical bills.

Abdool Karim said SA’s public healthcare system was not totally free, and using the system required payments on a sliding scale – but enforcing it was unacceptable.

“That is completely unlawful. There are rights in the constitution which entitle people the right to freedom,” she said. “This is, even more, a serious issue not in accordance with anything in the constitution. I cannot think of a single [rule] that entitles anyone in a hospital to detain someone subject to payment.”

Ramathuba told the SABC she stood by the contents of the video but said her comments were “taken out of context” and she did not attack the patient.

‘Foreign nationals choking Limpopo health system’

She said the constitution was clear to never deprive anyone of healthcare, but a rural province which was underresourced brought about a lot of issues.

“On a daily basis, we have an influx of foreign nationals choking the health system in Limpopo. The situation is getting worse. As a province, we have a backlog of surgical operations, so I started a programme called Rural Health Matters to reduce the backlog. It’s not xenophobic,” she said.

“It has become a problem when checking the numbers because it is still as if we are not doing anything in terms of backlog. The reason is, there has been an abuse of these projects by illegal foreign nationals.”

In any normal country this video would be the leading item on all news stations & newspapers, and it would cause emergency debate in parliament tomorrow morning, but not in Zimbabwe.

This South African minister is right, Zimbabwe has become an embarrassment due to ZANUPF LOOTING pic.twitter.com/XzCWRHx9GN

— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) August 23, 2022

Dr Mike Mikia Ramothwala, Limpopo department of health senior clinical manager, said anyone who was following the work Ramathuba did “will tell you she’s going beyond her duties to make sure we address our surgical backlogs”.

“Our hospital beds are full with illegal immigrants and you expect her to keep quiet,” he said in a tweet.

Opposition parties call for Ramathuba to resign

But the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have called for the removal of Ramathuba. The DA’s Limpopo health spokesperson Risham Maharaj said Ramathuba’s comments were xenophobic, inconsistent with the standard of treatment afforded to a patient.

“As a MEC, she should have treated the situation with the necessary sensitivity, despite her own frustrations and ensured the foreign national is afforded the same level of respect and treatment as any other patient,” he said.

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla is out of the country, and the acting minister, Angie Motshekga, has instructed the department to gather all necessary information which will enable her to provide Dr Phaahla with a full report on his return.

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Questions to dept:

• Should the MEC not have addressed the issue with relevant people and not the patient?
• Does it seem right attacking the woman for seeking medical help in a country with a far superior health system?
• This does not appear professional in terms of the constitution and the Hippocratic oath. Your comment?
• Why is Dr Ramathuba blaming the patient for Zimbabwe not paying her account? Has Zimbabwe been billed? And if so, how much?

– lungas@citizen.co.za