MEC clamps down on moonlighting

Specialists employed by the Free State government have been banned from practising in private hospitals during official working hours.

Free State health MEC Dr Benny Malakoane last week cancelled an agreement between doctors and the provincial health department that allowed government-employed specialists to work in the private sector at any time.

Previously, doctors could do this when it suited them, as long as they completed 56 hours a week at state hospitals.

"The system was being abused," said health spokesman Mondli Mvambi.

He said: "There was a scarcity of doctors in hospitals because they were not available in peak hours, as they were working in private practice."

Mvambi said doctors had to be at work between 7am and 4.30pm.

Dr Giles Hartman, who worked for the Free State department of health last year, said "abuse of the system was rife" and the problem was countrywide.

Mvambi said Malakoane yesterday told all Free State hospital CEOs to keep an audit of doctors' work attendance.

South African Medical Association spokesman Dr Deon Menge said doctors would move to the private hospitals if there was not flexibility.

He said the cancelled agreement had made specialists stay in the public sector.

"A specialist can earn 10 times as much in the private sector. We use the private sector to keep up our skills.

"It also lifts a doctor's morale when they have top equipment in the private sector and can offer patients excellent care."

A recent study of 80 state and private hospitals conducted by Professor Laetitia Rispel of the Wits health sciences faculty found state nurses also worked in the private sector during work hours.

"The practice is common and does not receive enough attention from management," Rispel said.