Our health system is in crisis. While public hospitals can’t keep up with demand, our private health care is amongst the best in the world. But it is out of reach for most people.
Only one in six South Africans are on medical aid, and of these, many are older citizens. Most youngsters simply can’t afford the high monthly premiums.
Government is looking for ways to allow poor people access to private health care, but it’s a long way off. One reason is fraud. Every year between three and twelve billion rand is lost to fraud or over-servicing. It pushes up the premiums and means less money is available for treating sick people.
To blame, are trusted and respected medical practitioners - the last people one would expect to be involved in such a dirty game.
Armed with a hidden camera and a medical aid card, Special Assignments investigates how this fraud takes place. Following a tip-off we travel to Durban, where a doctor and an optician are suspected of submitting false claims. And from there, the team visits Port St John, to meet a pharmacist who sells everything from boots to nappies – all on medical aid.
Join Special Assignment as we team up with the medical aids’ forensic unit, to expose these scams and bring the health workers to book.
Dodgy Doctors is written and produced by Sasha Wales-Smith and was filmed by Megan Raubenheimer and Jan De Klerk.
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