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The interrogation and intimidation faced by black healthcare practitioners in the country were worse than what was done during apartheid.
Dr Prudence Buthelezi, a health practitioner and co-founder of the National Health Care Professionals Association (NHCPA), said this on Thursday as she recounted the experiences she and her colleagues faced over a seven-year period.
The racial profiling were finally given credence by the Section 59 Investigation Panel’s report released this week.
“Today, we say victory is ours. We are the conquerers,” Buthelezi told a virtual and physical audience of fellow practitioners gathered on Thursday, as they reflected on the report findings.
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The National Health Care Professionals Association (NHCPA) says it will launch a class action lawsuit against medical aid schemes following the release of the Section 59 Investigation Panel interim report, which found that there was âsystemic discrimination perpetrated over a number of years,â against black medical practitioners by three healthcare groups.
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) launched an investigation in 2019 after members of the NHCPA and Solutionist Thinkers made allegations that their members were being racially profiled, harassed and bullied by medical aid schemes. The two organisations also alleged that medical aid schemes would demand confidential clinical information regarding patients and would withhold payments.
The party called for accountability.
“The EFF calls for stringent action against all the implicated medical schemes. Furthermore, we call for a complete overhaul of the algorithm systems in place to identify fraud and wastage by medical practitioners and all of those leading these medical schemes to face the full might of the law,” said the EFF.
Gems, which was found to be 80% more likely to find black doctors guilty of FWA, attempted to block the release of the damning report. TimesLIVE reports that the scheme approached the court just two hours before it was due to be released on Sunday.
Panel investigating claims of racism against Medical Schemes
‘Degrading, humiliating, and distressing’ – Section 59 investigation finds medical schemes racially profiled black health practitioners. The findings of investigation stemming from allegations from black doctors were released this week, despite attempts to block in in court.
Note- this story has been updated since it was published to include Discovery Health comment – Court action could not keep the damning findings of racial profiling of black doctors by medical aid schemes from public view.
A High Court judge has handed down a ruling ordering that a report revealing Medical Schemes racial profiling of doctors and health workers should be released to the public.