Health

 

The real reason why Gauteng doesn’t want to pay up for #LifeEsidimeni

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‘Families should be compensated for trauma, but not for what the deceased went through’, says state advocate.

The Gauteng provincial government’s resistance to paying Constitutional damages to the families who lost their loved ones in the Life Esidimeni tragedy, may be tied to the fear of accepting greater responsibility.

This follows a 2015 Gauteng health department decision to place almost 1700 former Life Esidimeni mental health patients in the care of deadly NGOs. While 144 have since died, a further 12 remain missing.
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Discovery Health recovers R568m through fraud-control activities in 2017

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Discovery Health recovers R568m through fraud-control activities in 2017

According to Discovery Health CEO, Dr Jonathan Broomberg, efforts to curb fraud in the healthcare system resulted in R568m recovered on behalf of client schemes in 2017, compared to R405m in 2016. Further, fraud-control activities in which health professionals and others contemplating fraud desist from committing fraud in reaction to visible policing and action by Discovery Health, prevented additional fraud to the value of approximately R3bn over the last two years, adds Broomberg.

Discovery Health has invested substantially in fighting the scourge of healthcare fraud. Efforts include the deployment of a specialised team of over 100 analysts and professional investigators as well as a proprietary forensic software system that uses sophisticated algorithms to analyse claims data and identify any unusual claim patterns. Invaluable tip-offs from whistleblowers also help to identify fraud.
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Life Esidimeni families want R1.5m each for constitutional damage

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On top of the R200‚000 compensation for emotional shock‚ psychological injury and funeral expenses from the State‚ Life Esidimeni families want each claimant to receive R1.5-million for constitutional damage redress.

On Thursday‚ the Life Esidimeni arbitration convened for closing arguments in Parktown‚ Johannesburg. Though the two parties agreed on the emotional trauma claim under common law‚ in respect of the claim for constitutional damages‚ the State and Section 27 did not reach an agreement.

Section 27 Advocate Adila Hassim argued why the State should compensate the families for the violation of constitutional rights.
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Gewonde slagoffer van plaasaanval wag nog steeds op gesondheidsorg

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Gewonde slagoffer van plaasaanval wag nog steeds op gesondheidsorg

Neem kennis: Foto kan sensitiewe lesers onstel.

Berdus Henrico, wat Dinsdag 6 Februarie tydens ’n plaasaanval in die Melkrivier-omgewing in Limpopo geskiet is, het teen Donderdag 12:00 steeds met twee koeëls in sy skouer en arm gesit.

Hoewel hy vir X-strale Polokwane toe gestuur is en gisternag weer in die F.H. Odendaal-hospitaal op Modimolle opgeneem is, het hy daarna nog nie verdere behandeling ontvang vir die skietwonde nie, het sy verloofde, Estelle Niewenhuys, aan Die Pos gesê.
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Private Healthcare in SA – continued decline and a possible solution

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We entered 2017 reeling from a series of double-digit medical insurance premium hikes. It was becoming clear that schemes are in trouble; undercut by unregulated, selective insurance products and forced into tighter and tighter modes of managing care delivered.

We were facing an affordability crisis then – that, without serious systematic change, schemes will be unable to derail their progression towards shrinking memberships and eventual collapse.

Moving into 2018, scheme’s reserves are under threat, memberships are stagnant and the system continues, for the most part, to tolerate overutilisation of hospital services while failing to invest in strengthening community-level care. Alternative fee models remain tentative and marginal, neither inspiring nor supporting any structural changes in the fragmented way healthcare services are delivered. In light of this, I predict the following for the coming year:
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Mediclinic warns of employment scam

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Mediclinic warns of employment scam

Advertisements on social media offering employment at Mediclinic are likely a hoax, the private hospital group says.

Positions advertised may include emergency care technicians, nurses, security, porters and other administration opportunities. The modus operandi of such scams often includes the solicitation of money through informal channels such as money market counters to cellular telephone numbers as part of the application or training process.

Mediclinic warns of employment scam

“It is important to note that Mediclinic would never require a job applicant to make a payment as part of the application process,” a statement said.
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No money for #LifeEsidimeni, but millions for consultants

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The Gauteng health department spent tens of millions of rands on consultants —including the controversial McKinsey & Company firm — even as it said it could no longer afford to pay for patient care at Life Esidimeni facilities, Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy has revealed.

For almost three years, a trio of now-former Gauteng health officials have told the same story.

Former MEC Qedani Mahlangu, department head Barney Selebano and mental health director Makgabo Manamela have all said that the tight budgets and growing auditor-general concerns about the Life Esidimeni contract forced them to cancel the department’s decades-old agreement with the private healthcare provider. The division of private hospital group Life Healthcare cared for almost 1700 state patients, many of whom were placed with deadly NGOs after the contract ended.
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62 psigiatriese pasiënte nog vermis na Life Esidimeni-skandaal

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62 psigiatriese pasiënte nog vermis na Life Esidimeni-skandaal

Dit lyk soos ’n lys soldate wat ná ’n oorlog vermis is in aksie – maar in die werklike lewe is dit die lys van die Gautengse departement van gesondheid se lys van 62 psigiatriese pasiënte wat met die Life Esidimeni-skandaal verdwyn het.

Die pasiënte kan nêrens opgespoor word nie nadat hulle vanuit die sorgeenheid na verskeie ongeregistreerde sorgsentrums oorgeplaas is.

Altesaam 143 pasiënte is sedert die verskuiwing dood.

’n Arbitrasieverhoor word tans gehou onder die voorsitterskap van regter Dikgang Moseneke.
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Cancer patient dies after being sent home because he was ‘going to die anyway’

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Cancer patient dies after being sent home because he was 'going to die anyway'

A DURBAN man diagnosed with stage four cancer was reportedly refused treatment at Addington Hospital. He said he was told he was old and “going to die anyway”. He wanted justice for other elderly patients.

The Sunday Tribune Herald spoke to him earlier in the week, and on Saturday, he died. By this time, the Sunday Tribune Herald had already been printed.

This was his story:

Hoosen Noor Mahomed, 60, of Charlotte Maxeke (Beatrice) Street wanted to share his story in the hope that others like him won’t have to endure such treatment.
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Listeria: Follow SA’s medical sleuths as they chase a killer in a race against time

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A mechanical hum fills the small room where James Bond is working to track down a killer. His name is printed in black letters on the side of his body.

But this James Bond isn’t the world’s most famous secret agent. It’s one of three gene-sequencing machines at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg.

Working along its Matrix-inspired counterparts, Neo and Niobe, Bond is the size of an average desktop printer. But the state-of-the-art devices can determine the genetic make-up of animal and plant cells in about three days.
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