Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Sandile Ndlovu)
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.”
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.
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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