Interesting times lie ahead for South Africa’s public healthcare system.
Starting today, heads will roll if the quality of healthcare is found to have been comprised in any of the country’s health facilities. In some cases, clinics, hospitals or parts of them may have to be temporarily shut down until the problems are fixed.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi made this clear in Centurion today, when he officially launched the newly established Office of Health Standards Compliance (OSC). The office is responsible for identifying problems that result in the quality of healthcare being compromised in the public healthcare sector and ensuring that those problems are fixed.
The office has also been granted powers to recommend action to be taken against any health facility or those responsible for compromising quality of healthcare.
Motsoaledi explained that in a case where the failures persist, the OSC will make recommendations on the appropriate action, which includes disciplinary action.
If that fails, he said, “an institution or part of that institution will be temporarily disabled in order to deal with the problems”.
Source: City Press
Last Updated on 9 July 2014 by HPCSA Corporate Affairs