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Attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi in court.
- A panel was appointed to investigate allegations by members of the National Association of Health Professionals that they were being treated unfairly by medical schemes and their claims withheld on the basis of their race and ethnic origin.
- GEMS and the Board of Healthcare Funders launched an urgent request last night to ban the release of the interim panel report, scheduled to be released at noon Sunday.
- GEMS says it has been informed that the report finds that, among other things, black healthcare providers “are unfairly discriminated against on the basis of race.”
The Government Employees Medical Plan (GEMS) has taken urgent legal action to block the release of lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi’s “scathing” interim investigation report on alleged racial discrimination of black, colored and Indian doctors by medical plans.
GEMS, which provides healthcare benefits to public service employees and is South Africa’s second-largest medical scheme, and the Board of Healthcare Funders, which represents the majority of South Africa’s medical schemes, launched an application last night Urgent to ban the release of the report, which was scheduled to be released at noon Sunday.
In court documents, GEMS legal counsel Marthinus Kruger claims the plan was informed that the interim report contained findings that, among other things, black healthcare providers “are unfairly discriminated against on the basis of race.”
Ngcukaitobi and advocates Adila Hassim and Kerry Williams were appointed by the Council on Medical Schemes in June 2019 to investigate allegations by members of the National Health Professionals Association (NHCPA) that they were being treated unfairly by medical schemes and that their claims were being withheld. based on your race and ethnicity.
In an affidavit filed Sunday morning, Ngcukaitobi said GEMS had known since November last year that the council intended to release the interim panel report and had issued multiple press releases to that effect. At no time had GEMS opposed the release of the report, he added.
“It’s just not open to [GEMS and the BHF] to approach the court with extreme urgency to restrict the publication of the report that they knew was imminent and which they have adhered to since at least November 2020. “
Damage to reputation
However, GEMS insists that the publication of the report “will seriously and irreparably damage GEMS’s good name and reputation” and violate its “right to be heard.”
“There is no way to repair such damage once it has been inflicted,” Kruger says in court documents.
While Kruger admits that he has not seen the interim report, he has told the Gauteng High Court that the Board of Healthcare Funders had informed the plan that it “contains scathing allegations and findings regarding GEMS (and others)” .
He added that the board had reviewed the interim report and found that some of its findings were “potentially detrimental” to the health care schemes it represents.
Kruger insists that the interim report compiled by Ngcukaitobi, Hassim and Williams cannot be published, as the panel “does not have the power or the right” to publish it. It says the Ngcukaitobi panel must give “GEMS and other affected parties the right to comment first and respond to the allegations and conclusions contained in the Interim Report, before any report is released to the public.”
Two-year investigation
During the panel’s two-year investigation, multiple doctors accused health care companies, including Discovery and Medscheme, of racial discrimination, particularly when it came to paying doctors.
Unlike their white counterparts, black, Indian and black doctors claimed they were required to share patient files when requesting payments, an illegal violation of doctor-patient confidentiality.
Doctors also claimed that due to delay or non-payment of health care plans, some doctors had committed suicide, while others had been forced to close their offices. This did not happen to their white colleagues, they said.
Several health care schemes submitted submissions to the panel, in which they attempted to refute any suggestion that the use of racial profiling played a role in the treatment of physicians.
Ngcukaitobi argues that because of this, GEMS and BHF’s allegations of procedural injustice are unfounded. It also maintains that the panel has a legal obligation to “distribute the report to all affected parties,” including the public.
“Furthermore, it is in the public interest to publish the report,” he says.
“The public has the right to know what the findings are, even at the intermediate stage, … The effect of the request would be to thwart the rights of the public, some of whom are members of [GEMS] to know the content of the report “.
Ngcukaitobi argues that the GEMS case should be delisted because it is not urgent or be dismissed.
The hearing continues.
