|
Media Release regarding the Section 59 report
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) says it is concerned at the slow pace of delivery of the final report of the Section 59 Inquiry by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) into unfair racial discrimination against Black doctors.
In August 2019 the CMS initiated an investigation into allegations from Black medical practitioners that medical schemes used racial profiling against them when conducting audits. The inquiry into the allegations that Black healthcare providers were treated unfairly by medical schemes based on race and ethnicity ran from October 2019 to January 2020.
Although the final report was scheduled for release in August 2020, and Interim Report was only released in January 2021 and confirmed that racial profiling existed. At this point, medical schemes were tasked with providing further information to the CMS, ahead of the final publication of the report
“It’s been almost a year since the Interim Report was published but no final report has been forthcoming. Despite many queries to the CMS, there is also no indication of when that final report can be expected, nor has there been any feedback from them on the progress of the further submissions by the medical schemes. All of this is extremely concerning, as these issues should have been dealt with as quickly as possible,” says Dr Angelique Coetzee, Chairperson of SAMA.
Dr Coetzee says SAMA views the allegations – and the subsequent findings in the Interim Report – as serious, and that they should have been prioritised for finalisation by the CMS. She says the findings of the report show that medical schemes have a case to answer, and that Black healthcare workers have a right to know where there they stand. She says while these answers are still outstanding, Black healthcare workers are left to wonder if the CMS is considering their concerns as seriously as they should, or if the lack of information is an attempt to “wait it out” until the problems go away.
“Silence on these matters won’t make them go away, nor will it absolve those medical schemes found to be racially profiling our Black colleagues. Instead, these matters which should have been fast-tracked for finalisation, are being left to simmer, which is problematic for everyone in this sector. We need answers, and we need them sooner rather than later, as this will also show intent from the CMS to deal effectively with the problem,” concludes Dr Coetzee.
[ENDS]
| 
