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Update
MPS: here for you, not profits
By Alika Maharaj, MPS Membership and Marketing Agent
C
linical negligence can be a very expensive issue, which means
that subscriptions for medical indemnity protection often represent a significant – but necessary – outlay. With some of the figures involved, it is easy to think of MPS as a big global organisation that swallows members’ money. However, MPS prides itself on being a not-for-profit organisation and mutuality is something that is at our very core. As a mutual and not-for-
profit organisation, MPS answers to no shareholders – our purpose is to protect and promote members’ professional interests, often in a changing environment. All decisions we make are not solely on financial grounds; rather it is doctors and dentists who make the key decisions, on a case-by-case basis, to ensure that each member is treated as an individual.
We have also
forged close contacts with governments around the world to ensure that legislation and policy decisions take into account the views and interests of MPS members. We promote safer practice by running risk management programmes and workshops around the world. Decisions to spend members’ funds are not taken lightly and every cent retained is put back into your welfare, aimed at supporting your practice and helping you avoid getting into trouble in the first place. You may see me and Ian Middleton at events and conferences – so please ask us more about MPS’s ethos. MPS is your organisation.
NEWS IN BRIEF State surgical errors cost R33 million
Errors made during surgeries performed at state hospitals in the past year have led to the government paying out R33 million in compensation. This includes 55 cases in the Eastern Cape alone. Local medical malpractice attorney Ben Niehaus, who
recently won a R1m lawsuit against the department after a woman’s child died at birth due to insufficient oxygen, said there had been a surge in cases. Mr Niehaus, from Niehaus Mcmahon & Oosthuizen
Attorneys, attributed this to wide media coverage on litigation, which has made wronged families realise that “after someone dies...or the wrong limb is amputated, it is not the end of the road. Patients have a right to compensation”. He said most of his cases were against state hospitals because of lack of specialised treatment, overcrowding, lack of finances, or damaged or broken equipment. Mervyn Joseph, from Joseph’s Incorporated in Johannesburg, said an alarming number of his cases – against the public and private sector – came out of the Eastern Cape. In one of the biggest cases to come out of the province, Joseph recently represented a King William’s Town woman who won a R16m claim after her baby was born with permanent and severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen at birth.
Bogus abortionist infiltrates hospital
An alleged backyard abortionist used documents with a hospital’s letterhead to gain access to a hospital and carry out illegal abortions. The man is thought to be part of a larger group of
fake doctors carrying out illegal abortions in Tshwane. He was arrested after security staff at the hospital questioned a young woman who was waiting outside a pharmacy to meet a “doctor” – who turned out to be a man who had been monitored for weeks.
Concerns over paediatric surgeon shortage
JUDASA warning over locum work
The Junior Doctors Association of South Africa (JUDASA) has reminded interns and medical students that carrying out locum work is illegal and liable to attract harsh penalties. In a strongly-worded statement, JUDASA chairperson
Dr Tende Makofane stated that interns and medical students are still trainees and, as such, are not permitted to work as independent doctors in private practices. Dr Makofane also advised against selling off overtime forms in exchange for money, either to other interns or medical officers. The penalties for such illegal practice are also harsh, he said.
The South African Association of Paediatric Surgeons (SAAPS) has warned of a “grave shortage” of paediatric surgeons in South Africa, saying that scheduled operations were being cancelled in favour of emergency procedures. According to SAAPS, there are only 27 registered paediatric surgeons in the country, although some of those have retired and two only worked in private practice. In South Africa there is one specialist paediatric surgeon for every two million children, compared to one for every 300,000 in Europe. In one hospital, children aged over ten are placed on the adult surgery waiting list.
UPDATE
JUNIOR DOCTOR | VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 1 | 2011 | SOUTH AFRICA
www.medicalprotection.org
LEIGH SCHINDLER/
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
VERONICA DONNELLY/
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
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