Latest news with #KgosiLetlape
TimesLIVE
14-07-2025
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Illegal foreigners should be removed from public hospitals or pay up, says ActionSA's Kgosi Letlape
ActionSA MP Kgosi Letlape has criticised the government's provision of health-care services to illegal foreigners. This comes after the government and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) condemned the behaviour of community members and advocacy groups like Operation Dudula which have blocked illegal foreigners from receiving medical care. During an oversight visit to Rahima Moosa hospital in Johannesburg, Letlape was informed that more than 40% of the patient load consisted of foreign nationals. He believes that removing foreigners from public hospitals and clinics would alleviate the burden on the already strained system. 'If you take foreign nationals out of the public health-care system you may begin to cope with the burden,' he said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika. 'The system cannot cope.' According to the constitution, everyone has the right of access to health-care services. Letlape suggests the constitution should be amended to only cater to South African citizens and permanent residents. 'We cannot afford to provide health-care services to the globe, it's insufficient for our citizens.' He said foreigners should have health insurance to pay for services at private facilities. 'As they come in, they should have health insurance so that they'll be able to access private health care. If they access our facilities, they should pay for those services. I'm not violating their rights; I'm saying let them be upright citizens and respect the laws of this country. Let them not invade our borders unlawfully and when they present themselves here, let them be law-abiding legal citizens so that we can uphold their human rights.'
The Citizen
14-07-2025
- Health
- The Citizen
‘Broader investigation overdue' – ActionSA lodges criminal complaint against medical aids
The party said a criminal investigation would go a long way in exposing the 'deep-seated rot' within the health sector ActionSA MP and member of the Health Portfolio Committee Dr Kgosi Letlape has lodged a criminal complaints against medical aid schemes. This follows a report, commissioned by Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi, that found racial discrimination against black service providers by the schemes Chairperson of the independent investigative panel, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, presented the report's key findings to the minister on Monday, 7 July. Findings The panel was tasked with determining if there were any racial undertones in the medical aid schemes' treatment of practitioners. ALSO READ: Medical aids slammed for procedural unfairness in new report 'The risk ratio is a tool we developed to work out the likelihood that a black practitioner would be subjected to an investigation, a finding and a penalty, versus a white practitioner,' explained Ngcukaitobi. 'What we did have the power to do was make findings of fact, and that finding of fact simply leads to one conclusion: the evidence of risk ratios showed racial discrimination against black service providers by the schemes.' Ngcukaitobi noted how, in 2017, one private medical aid scheme found black psychiatrists guilty of fraud, waste and abuse (FWA) at more than three times the rate of their white counterparts. ALSO READ: More than half of Discovery's medical aid plans saw declines in members last year Another private scheme was shown to have found black anaesthetists guilty of FWA over six times more often than other groups in 2018. In the government employee medical scheme, black dental therapists were generally three times more likely than non-black dental therapists to be found guilty of FWA in 2014. 'Critical step' against medical aid schemes On Monday, ActionSA said that laying formal criminal complaints was a crucial step to enable investigators to lawfully access the relevant records, communications and case files. ALSO READ: Trio of medical aids fail to maintain required liquidity 'These materials are essential to uncovering the full extent of any wrongdoing and ensuring that those implicated are held to account, including both medical schemes and practitioners who may have engaged in criminal conduct,' said ActionSA. 'ActionSA is of the considered view that a broader investigation into the conduct of these schemes is both necessary and overdue.' The party said a criminal investigation would go a long way in exposing the 'deep-seated rot' within the health sector, 'ensuring that criminal conduct is rooted out and that discriminatory practices which undermine the very principles of South Africa's constitutional democracy are brought to an end'. Additional reporting by Jarryd Westerdale READ NEXT: Medical schemes risk ruining their reputations through greed
eNCA
14-06-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Young people give GNU a failing grade
JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA says young South Africans have given the GNU a thumbs-down. The party launched a series of engagements to hear the experiences of people from all walks of life. ActionSA Member of Parliament, Dr Kgosi Letlape had a sit down with eNCA's Heidi Giokos.
