> Navigate

Dodgy doctors to face SARS checks

HEALTH Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is turning to the taxman to help nab state doctors who ditch patients during business hours to work in private clinics, hospitals and practices. These public sector cheats are already being investigated by the National Health department and its provincial counterparts.

Motsoaledi said that criminal charges would be brought against those found guilty of defrauding the system. He hopes getting the SA Revenue Service (Sars) involved will help identify those doctors and specialists who are not declaring the tax on their private work. The Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu- Natal departments are collectively investigating more than 500 doctors they believe are cheating the public sector. Investigations started early last year. Motsoaledi said some of the doctors being scrutinised in KwaZulu-Natal were caught out after submitting claims to medical aids for hours during which they were contracted to work in public healthcare.

Public sector doctors are legally allowed to perform remunerative work outside public service, according to section 30 of the Public Service Act of 1994. But the rules are clear: private jobs must not interfere with their commitments to the public sector. Motsoaledi stressed it would be unfair to paint all doctors and specialists with the same brush. He said that the few individuals who were doing this were not only punishing patients, they were also destroying the medical training in the country because they left medical students to their own devices. He also had tough words for the private healthcare sector, saying it needed to stop enticing doctors with "perverse incentives".

SARS spokesperson Adrian Lackay said he was not immediately aware whether Motsoaledi or his office had requested their help. But Lackay said Sars "would be happy to assist when the time comes".

Zinhle Mapumulo: City Press, 19 May 2013