BL Premium reports that lawyers representing trade union Solidarity and private doctors spent hours on Tuesday trying to convince Constitutional Court judges to confirm a court order which found provisions of the National Health Act, which controls where doctors work and where health facilities are established, invalid.
Last year, the Pretoria High Court declared sections 36 to 40 of the Act invalid. The sections provide that doctors and healthcare facilities need to obtain a certificate of need from the director-general of health before rendering services. The Act aims to decentralise healthcare access and ensure rural areas, which have little or no access to doctors and medical facilities, get access. The state plans to use the sections to get practitioners and health facilities to migrate to rural areas. Facilities that already exist also have to apply for the certificate.
Greta Engelbrecht, representing Solidarity and private doctors, argued the sections gave the health director-general immense power which was intrusive to the constitutional rights of health practitioners. She said: “No health agency or establishments will be allowed to operate without the certificate. This includes hospitals, medical practices, dental rooms, nursing homes and clinics. In the hands of the director-general will lie the ability to refuse them the ability to continue to operate.”
The judges quizzed Engelbrecht on the importance of healthcare access to people in rural areas while balancing that with protection of healthcare providers’ rights. Engelbrecht argued that the government could not shift its constitutional mandate to provide healthcare services to those in need by compelling private practitioners to work in rural areas. The court reserved judgment.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sinesipho Schrieber at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Lees ook, ‘Kernpilaar van NGV’ in hoogste hof uitgedaag, by Maroela Media
- And also, Solidarity, Health Department go head to head in ConCourt over National Health Act, at Daily Maverick
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page