The private Nelspruit Medi-Clinic has admitted more than 100 public patients for treatment since the strike began — and the government will pay at least some of the heavy costs of private treatment.
”We recognise that there will be emergency admissions from public to private hospitals and we have, through the Hospital Association of South Africa (Hasa), entered a verbal agreement with the department of health a week ago to assist in emergency cases,” said Nelspruit Medi-Clinic operations director Koert Pretorius.
Hasa represents more than 90% of private hospitals and clinics in the country. Its CEO, Kurt Worrall-Clare, said the head of the provincial health department would identify patients who need to be sent for emergency treatment at private hospitals.
”The department and individual hospitals pay the costs of treating these patients, but it was a confidential agreement and we would not really make public its contents, or how much we agreed upon with the department,” said Worrall-Clare.
He said the strike had affected private hospitals and clinics ”tremendously” in terms of public patients who were seeking help without being referred by the health department.
”Individual patients come to our clinics or hospitals on foot or in taxis. In emergency cases, we treat them without charge, but we do look at the critical need of these patients first,” he said.
He said public patients who could afford to pay for their treatment were also being treated and that some hospitals now had a shortage of neo-natal and intensive care beds. The private hospital sector had only 28 000 hospital beds, compared with more than 100 000 in the public sector.
Mpumalanga’s health department spokesperson, Mpho Gabashane, confirmed on Thursday that emergency cases had been referred to private hospitals and clinics. — African Eye News