KZN medical negligence budget slashed

The KZN Health Department has been allocated R35 million less than it incurred in litigation costs in the previous year.

Durban - Despite facing an increasing number of medical negligence claims, the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has been allocated R35 million less than the total amount it incurred in litigation costs in the previous financial year.

Tabling her adjustment budget last month, Finance MEC Belinda Scott said the department had been allocated R68m to assist with medical negligence claims incurred in the 2015-16 financial year.

The previous financial year, the litigation budget was R23m, but this was nowhere near enough, with litigation costs eventually totalling R103m.

The allocation in the adjustment budget had to be made after the department’s main budget, announced in May, made no provision for the medical negligence cases.

This was “due to the baseline cuts”, the department’s budget documents said.

By publication deadline the department had not responded to e-mailed questions on the allocation, or provided further details on medical negligence claims.

The questions were sent to the department last Wednesday, and neither MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo nor his head of department, Sifiso Mtshali, would comment on the matter.

The mute response from the department came as opposition parties complained the department was reluctant to divulge much on an area of spending that appeared excessive.

“When we question the legal costs (in portfolio committee), they don’t tell us how much is involved,” said DA spokesman for health in KZN, Imran Keeka.

However, Dhlomo and his delegation had in June told one of the National Assembly’s committees that the department was saddled with 1 079 pending claims.

“The majority of claims came from eThekwini district, mostly because it was more densely populated and the department had a number of institutions in that area.

“Moving towards the rural areas, the claims become less,” said a report the department submitted to Parliament.

The report said the department had identified obstetrics and gynaecology units as problem areas where lawyers were looking to sue for negligence by doctors.

The report, tabled by the department, showed there had been an upward trend in the number of claims received since the 2007/08 financial year, when 50 were recorded and 16 settled, with R3m paid out of the R4.5m originally claimed.

In 2013/14, 143 medical negligence cases were recorded and only 49 were settled.

The department was currently facing pending claims totalling about R6 billion.

The department had claimed lawyers were touting for patients to sue the department. It also said poor report writing by doctors was making cases harder to defend.

Keeka said the department should employ more professionals and ensure good recordkeeping to limit litigation.

He said if this was done, “half of the future cases would be mitigated”.

The IFP’s Ncamisile Nkwanyana said her party was concerned about the increasing number of medical negligence cases.

“For as long as the taxpayer picks up the legal costs, negligence and irresponsible conduct will continue, thereby placing people’s lives at risk and incurring more of a financial burden to the department,” Nkwanyana said.

She said the department should ensure there was proper administration and supervision at all health facilities.

Meanwhile, the high number of medical negligence cases faced by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health was a cause for concern, says medical law expert Shafrudeen Amod.

He said taxpayers were having to cough up to meet claims and funding had to be spent on litigation and settlement that could better be spent on providing “proper and accessible health service to the people”.

“We have to ask if they (the claims) are preventable?” he said, referring to whether there was negligence or failure to perform on the part of medical professionals.

Amod said the increase in the medical negligence claims was a nationwide trend as more people became aware of their rights under the constitution.

“It is reasonable to have expectation of reasonable standards of health care,” he said.

He said rather than blaming lawyers touting for patients with claims, the department should improve the monitoring of junior doctors at hospitals.

“For litigation to take place, there has to be a probability,” he said in dismissing the assertion that lawyers look out for patients so as to sue the department.

He said lack of supervision of junior doctors contributed to the medical negligence cases.

“Junior doctors are not monitored by senior doctors. Most of the senior doctors, who are specialists, have private practices. If you come to a surgery, you would find that there is no senior doctor,” he said in reference to moonlighting doctors.

Amod also said the department often chose to defend cases rather than settle out of court.

“The department should establish a medico-legal claim department that would screen the cases and advise the department on which cases to defend and which to settle.”

Daily News

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