The Citizen reports that the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has revised its annual fee increase following complaints raised by doctors.

In a statement on Tuesday, HPCSA president Simon Nemutandani said the council held an extraordinary meeting last Saturday and decided on a maximum increase of 5.7% for affected professional boards. In December 2021, the council had agreed upon a 13% fee increase for the practitioners under the Medical and Dental Professions Board. Payment of the revised 2022/23 annual fee increase will be extended until 30 April 2022. Affected practitioners would receive a credit on their practitioner account in due course to implement the reduction in annual fee increases, while those who had already paid the earlier amount would have a credit on their account which would be allocated against future annual fees or any other open outstanding invoices, said Nemutandani. Earlier in the month, the SA Medical Association (Sama) criticised the initial increases as “unfair” and “not justifiable”, and said it would engage with the HPCSA on the matter. It sent request for information in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to obtain budgets, minutes of meetings, and other relevant communication and data relating to council’s ‘justification’ for increasing the fees.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen

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