ActionSA slams Health Dept's failure to track nationalities of patients at State facilities
ActionSA member of Parliament (MP), Dr Kgosi Letlape, said this makes it impossible to budget and plan properly and ensure adequate resources at overburdened hospitals and clinics.
Last month, Operation Dudula activists in Durban and Johannesburg attempted to turn away foreign nationals seeking treatment at several State facilities because of the impact they believe this is having on care offered to citizens.
ActionSA is opposed to foreign nationals seeking free medical assistance when citizens are already bearing the brunt of overcrowding and long waits for assistance.
READ: Health Dept says SA carries cost of treating foreign nationals, while upholding Constitution
Letlape said the health minister's admission in response to a parliamentary question confirms its view that the department is unable to account for the full scope of service delivery liabilities.
He said it's particularly concerning that millions of undocumented foreign nationals are making use of taxpayer-funded services. "We do not know the magnitude of the impact on health services. All that we see are drug shortages, poor quality of services, long queues, inability to serve the people who attend is because we do not know the numbers that attend our institutions."
In May, ActionSA submitted proposals to Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee to amend the Constitution to limit healthcare services to citizens and legally recognised residents.
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Three Operation Dudula women arrested for confronting patients over nationality in Soweto clinic
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TimesLIVE
a day ago
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Government doesn't track foreign patients in public healthcare: Motsoaledi
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the department does not keep track of the number of documented or undocumented foreigners who use public healthcare facilities. This was revealed in a written reply to a parliamentary question by ActionSA MP Kgosi Letlape about the number of foreigners who have received healthcare services in public hospitals and clinics. Motsoaledi said this is in accordance with section 27 of the constitution which states everyone has the right to access healthcare services regardless of documentation status. 'No-one may be refused emergency medical treatment. Healthcare is provided based on clinical need, not on nationality or documentation status.' While patients are required to provide proof of identity when visiting healthcare facilities, 'services are not withheld from those unable to do so'. Letlape asked whether undocumented foreigners have been reported to the home affairs department by medical professionals assisting them. Motsoaledi said patients' nationalities are not recorded in the system. 'The patient administration and records systems in public health facilities do not classify or record individuals as South African or foreign and are therefore unable to provide a number of undocumented people who accessed healthcare services over the past five years. 'Many South African citizens also access healthcare without presenting identification, many of whom have no identity documents issued by home affairs or any other official form of identity. This makes it impossible to determine whether such undocumented patients are foreigners.' ActionSA wants only South Africans and permanent residents to have use of public healthcare facilities. 'The absence of patient categorisation, where health records fail to distinguish between citizens and foreigners, severely compromises effective planning, budgeting and policy formulation,' Letlape said. 'This is further compounded by the lack of identification or status verification mechanism, which means patients are not required to present identification, preventing healthcare providers from verifying legal status or maintaining accurate and continuous patient records. 'This situation is not mirrored in any other country, where foreigners are typically required to possess medical insurance as a condition of their visa applications. Yet South Africans are being gaslit into accepting this unsustainable burden as normal.'
Eyewitness News
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ActionSA slams Health Dept's failure to track nationalities of patients at State facilities
CAPE TOWN - ActionSA has slammed the Health Department for not keeping track of the nationalities of patients seeking treatment at State facilities. ActionSA member of Parliament (MP), Dr Kgosi Letlape, said this makes it impossible to budget and plan properly and ensure adequate resources at overburdened hospitals and clinics. Last month, Operation Dudula activists in Durban and Johannesburg attempted to turn away foreign nationals seeking treatment at several State facilities because of the impact they believe this is having on care offered to citizens. ActionSA is opposed to foreign nationals seeking free medical assistance when citizens are already bearing the brunt of overcrowding and long waits for assistance. READ: Health Dept says SA carries cost of treating foreign nationals, while upholding Constitution Letlape said the health minister's admission in response to a parliamentary question confirms its view that the department is unable to account for the full scope of service delivery liabilities. He said it's particularly concerning that millions of undocumented foreign nationals are making use of taxpayer-funded services. "We do not know the magnitude of the impact on health services. All that we see are drug shortages, poor quality of services, long queues, inability to serve the people who attend is because we do not know the numbers that attend our institutions." In May, ActionSA submitted proposals to Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee to amend the Constitution to limit healthcare services to citizens and legally recognised residents.
