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TimesLIVE reports that doctors in private practice are under siege by criminals who pose as patients and clear out their bank accounts, steal their devices and take medication, including antiretrovirals and cough syrup.
In the most recent incident, former special adviser to the national health department and general practitioner Dr Esthras Tlou Moloko was attacked at his Germiston practice on the East Rand on Tuesday. Moloko, 62, was severely beaten by two men who entered the practice, with one having posed as a patient. The SA Medical Association (Sama) last week condemned escalating crimes against doctors, saying it had received reports of more than 30 robberies at private practices in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Free State since mid-2020. Dr Prudence Buthelezi of the National Health Care Professional Association described the situation “as a national crisis”. She elaborated: “It's not only doctors who are being affected by crime, paramedics are also being targeted. We are getting reports of paramedics being robbed when they collect patients.” According to Buthelezi, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated crimes against healthcare professionals in the past year because of unemployment and rising poverty levels. Dr Norman Mabasa, a general practitioner in Kagiso, Krugersdorp, and a former Limpopo health MEC, was also a victim of a criminal attack at his practice. He said: “Doctors are completely under siege and are seen to be soft targets.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Suthentira Govender at TimesLIVE
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