The Council has established an Inspectorate Office whose main focus and primary role is to ensure that registered practitioners comply with the provisions of the Act, as well as all rules and regulations governing the practitioners.
Over and above the overarching responsibility of ensuring compliance, the Inspectorate Office will also be responsible for the following duties:
- Conducting proactive inspections of premises to ensure compliance;
- Assisting professional Boards with the inspections on clinical and professional compliance matters;
- Ensuring compliance with penalties imposed by the Professional Conduct Committee;
- Collecting outstanding fines and attend to criminal matters in respect of unregistered practitioners.
One of the main objectives of the Inspectorate Office of the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) is the eradication of bogus doctors practicing illegally in communities. The office was recently it was involved in a high profile case in the Western Cape which saw the arrest of a local doctor.
The Inspectorate Office, together with the Department of Health, the Medicines Control Council and the Police Crime Intelligence Unit, embarked on a joint operation to bring to book “doctors” who have been practicing illegally, fraudulently and employing unregistered doctors to treat unsuspecting patients.
A certain doctor (name withheld) was arrested for operating an illegal practice and also practicing though he had been struck from the register. He had been suspended as of May 2015, following an unethical conduct ruling against him by the HPCSA. He was found guilty of practicing outside the scope of his profession. He had also employed an illegal locum doctor, who was not registered with the HPCSA. These bogus professionals were found to be dispensing medicines without a dispensing license. Illegal practitioners are not only breaking the law but they are putting people’s lives at risk.
This is one of the ways in which the HPCSA is fulfilling its mandate. The Council is mandated to regulate the health professions in the country in aspects pertaining to registration, education and training, professional conduct and ethical behaviour, ensuring Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and fostering compliance with healthcare standards.
In order to fully discharge this mandate, Council has as one of its responsibilities to enforce compliance by practitioners in line with the provisions of the Health Professions Act, 1974.
The Inspectorate Office is fully operational and based at the Council’s Head Office in Pretoria, with three regional offices in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
The HPCSA’s mandate is to protect the public and guide the professions through ensuring enforcement and compliance from the practitioners in line with the provisions of the Health Professions Act. Illegal practitioners are not only breaking the law but they are putting people’s lives at risk.
Last Updated on 1 July 2016 by HPCSA Corporate Affairs