The South African Medical Association (Sama) supports a probe into the conduct of doctors who recommended fraud convict Schabir Shaik for medical parole, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
”Sama wishes the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) well in their investigation and looks forward to an objective report that not only reflects the facts around the Schabir Shaik issue, but opens the door for humane and equal treatment for all terminally ill prisoners requiring medical parole,” said spokesperson Adele Hansen in a statement.
The HPCSA said on Tuesday it would investigate the conduct of the doctors who compiled the reports which were presented to the parole board.
The board released Shaik on March 3 on the basis of medical parole.
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said that Shaik qualified for medical parole as his doctors had concluded he was ”in the final phase of his terminal condition”.
”The three medical practitioners’ collective submission shows a unanimous conclusion that Mr Shaik is in ‘the final phase of his terminal condition’,” said Balfour in a statement.
He added: ”One even went as far as saying that his condition has reached an irreversible condition.”
Many commentators, including the head of the SA Human Rights Commission Jody Kollapen, have said that Shaik’s parole should be examined as he qualified for it while many terminally ill prisoners did not seem to receive the same consideration.
”The way the [law] is applied seems to be inconsistent … people having to go to court to get released on medical parole or some just dying in prison, this needs to be addressed,” Kollapen said.
”A review, we feel will provide some clarity and also lay down guidelines in how medical parole is applied in practice.”
HPCSA spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said the investigation would look only into the conduct of Shaik’s doctors.
”We are not investigating him [Shaik] obviously, we are merely investigating the healthcare professionals, and even they aren’t guilty. We would just like to know whether the conclusions drawn were done without outside interference,” said Peters-Scheepers.
Peters-Scheepers said that due to the public interest, the findings of the report on the doctors’ conduct would be made public, but not the medical details.
The HPCSA investigation follows the formal filing of a complaint by the Democratic Alliance spokesperson for correctional services, James Selfe.
Selfe asked the HPCSA to determine whether the doctors who had recommended Shaik’s parole acted correctly.
Shaik, the former financial adviser to African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, was released on medical parole last week after serving 28 months of a 15-year jail term for fraud and corruption. – Sapa