POLL | What do you think of MEC Phophi Ramathuba's outburst?

Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba has again got tongues wagging with her shoot-from-the-hip comments, this time telling a patient migrants are to blame for her department's stretched budget.

In a video that has since gone viral, the politician is heard telling the patient her country must take responsibility for her health issues and not SA.

She added Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute to Limpopo's health budget.

“You are supposed to be with Mnangagwa. You are killing my health system. When you guys are sick you just say, 'let's cross the Limpopo River, there's a MEC there who's running a charity department'.”

While some agreed with her, others said it was the wrong time and place to share such comments. 

Many more slammed her, calling her outburst “xenophobic”, “insensitive” and “unethical”.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, a Solidarity Doctors Network board member, said the patient was a victim of the drama between SA and Zimbabwe.

“Even if they cross the border illegally to get health services, it’s not their fault. She [the MEC] wasn’t supposed to embarrass her like that in front of people.

“It was unethical, unprofessional and out of line. She should have addressed that at a different level.”

Ramathuba told TimesLIVE her comments were taken out of context.

“On a daily basis we have an influx of foreign nationals choking the health system in Limpopo. The situation is getting worse. As a province, we have a backlog of surgical operations, so I started a programme called rural health matter[s] to reduce the backlog. It's not xenophobic.

“We started this programme when we had a breather during Covid-19 and we have done more than 4,000 operations.

“I started doing inspections, only to find that the vast majority of people on the list are foreign nationals and the operations they come here for are not even emergencies.”

She alleged the patient she approached was not there for an emergency.

Ramathuba previously had tongues wagging for her comments on blessers, teen pregnancies and burials during the Covid-19 pandemic.

TimesLIVE

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