An application challenging the constitutionality of regulations obliging doctors to acquire special licences to dispense medicines was dismissed with costs in the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
Acting Judge Johann Kruger rejected a contention by doctors that the regulations infringe on their constitutionally protected rights and those of their patients.
He also dismissed arguments that Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang exceeded her powers in passing the regulations and that the new licensing provisions are not connected to the government’s stated purpose of making safe medicines more accessible.
Kruger said it is not for a court to apply value judgements with regard to government policy.
The formulation of such policy is subject to public scrutiny and input, and the end product susceptible to public assessment.
Public officials may be held responsible for their policies by the public.
”Accountability, in this sense, forms part of the political process and it is not for the courts to interfere with policy matters under the guise of accountability,” Kruger said in a written judgement.
Assuming on behalf of the applicants that medical practitioners have a right to dispense medicines, it does not follow that the provisions limit such rights to the extent that they infringe on any constitutional rights, Kruger said.
”In my view, the impugned provisions do no more than regulate the practice of dispensing and do not infringe the medical practitioner’s rights to choose to practise as a medical practitioner or to choose to dispense medicines as part of his or her practice.”
The deadline for the regulations to come into operation, initially June 1, was extended to Friday July 2 pending the court’s judgement on the matter.
The application was brought by the Affordable Medicines Trust, the National Convention on Dispensing and practitioner Dr Mphata Norman Mabasa.
They disputed the validity of the regulations, arguing doctors have an inherent right to dispense medicine because of their qualifications.
The application was contested by nine respondents, including the minister and director general of health, the speaker of Parliament, the president of the country, the Medicines Control Council of South Africa and the South African Pharmacy Council. — Sapa
Doctors may appeal ruling