The SA Medical Association and its trade union have called on South Africans not to use doctors as a scapegoat for a dysfunctional health system following a spate of suspensions of doctors accused of misconduct. The Department of Health recently suspended two doctors after they performed a Caesarean section on a teenager in a general ward at Evander Hospital in Mpumalanga. Ordinarily, this would have been performed in a theatre.Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi opened a criminal case against the two doctors, saying they had "a tendency to disregard instructions with impunity".The union said Motsoaledi's suggestions that the two face criminal charges before an internal probe could be concluded was "reckless, premature, misguided and irresponsible".Trade union spokesman Mahlane Phalane said that what the two doctors had done amounted to "acts of heroism and true dedication to saving [lives] ".The union's probe showed the doctors acted correctly.According to its investigation, a requested medical helicopter did not arrive, the teenager suffered seizures and went into cardiac arrest.Medical association chairman Mzukisi Grootboom said: "An immediate decision was made that an emergency Caesarean section was required if there was to be any chance of saving the life of the baby, who still had a heartbeat, and was alive at the time."It was further appreciated that the immediate delivery of the baby held the only accessible chance of stopping the seizures that the mother had presented with. There was no time to transfer the patient to theatre."Their intervention did not save the life of the baby and the teenager died 10 days later.The American Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology in 2008 said a baby must be delivered within five minutes of the mother having a heart attack to prevent brain damage.The association says the suspension left Evander Hospital short-staffed.One of the doctors has 15 years' experience "and teaches a course on obstetric emergencies and is fully familiar with the theory and practice of the course's guidelines".Health spokesman Joe Maila said the department believed suspension was the right action. He said the doctors had been sent letters asking them for reasons they should not be suspended. Only one responded.In a separate incident, two doctors and a nurse were suspended at Mahatma Ghandi Hospital in Durban after reports they did not treat a 19-year-old patient, Reveshen Pandather, who was hit by a car in Verulam. However, insiders claimed they were unfairly blamed...