Gauteng MEC for health blasts private hospitals for turning away patients

23 June 2016 - 18:02 By Roxanne Henderson

Gauteng MEC for Health Qedani Mahlangu has blasted private healthcare facilities for turning patients whose lives are in danger away because they cannot pay. According to Mahlangu‚ a woman in need of emergency treatment was recently asked to put down R500‚000 before she could be attended to at a Kempton Park hospital.The department then collected the woman and put her on a ventilator while she waited for a bed in an intensive care unit at a public hospital to open up‚ Mahlangu said."Should we put money before serving a patient?"Something has gone wrong. We have commoditised healthcare."She was speaking at the launch of a public-private sector initiative that will see a state-of-the-art paediatric surgery outpatient clinic built at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto. The department hopes construction will be completed next year."This is not a centre that will not only benefit Gauteng citizens but the entire country‚ as the hospital gets referrals [from] across the nation‚" Mahlangu said...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.