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Legal claims pile up against the N Cape Health dept

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An increasing concern has been raised about the growing legal claims against the Northern Cape Department of Health.

Medical negligence claims facing the department currently stands at over R1 billion.

Rising legal claims have tripled in the past financial year from just under R500 million to approximately One and a half  billion at the start of the 2017/18 financial year.

A huge crisis is looming as the department faces severe financial constraints affecting health services.

Edward Beckman is amongst those suing the department.

His two-year-old daughter died early this year at the Kimberley Hospital.

Beckman’s daughter had tonsillitis, fever and ear infection.

Sadly, she was given medication she was allergic to.

Beckman says, “I do think justice will be served but I do expect a very long drawn process, because in the experience that we have had, it looks like it will be drawn out as long as possible.”

There might be cases where the department would possibly be expected to negotiate with affected families.

Northern Cape Health MEC Lebogang Motlhaping elaborates: “We are not fighting with families in an event we are of the view that it was really negligence on our part. The department will have a mediator in the team then speak to the families for an out of court settlement, but in an event we believe this case can be defended we will go to court and defend it and if we lose it we’ll take it from there.”

Meanwhile, opposition parties say this is a disaster waiting to happen.

COPE leader in the province Pakes Dikgetsi: “They lack competent managers , they lack sufficient clinical staff and it lead to all sorts of problems, injuries and death. Those claims mean that the department has to make trade-offs, it means services will have to be compromised somewhere, to be able to pay those legal claims, if they’re successful in the court of law.”

Dr Isak Fritz of the Northern Cape Democratic Alliance says: “We going to write to the national minister of Health Dr Aaron to urgently intervene into the department of health in the Northern Cape. I mean if you just take legal claims against the department it is more than a quarter of the annual budget of the department.”

The department say being placed under administration will only be a temporary solution if systems are not strengthened.

All claims will be investigated by a multidisciplinary team of medical and legal experts in December.

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