SOUTH AFRICA, Limpopo – The top ranking heath official for South Africa’s Limpopo province Dr Phophi Ramathuba has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct after her bedside rant at an undocumented Zimbabwean patient she accused of leaving her country to seek treatment in South Africa.
The incident happened at Bela Bela Regional Hospital.
Limpopo Health MEC Ramathuba was filmed telling the visibly traumatised patient that President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute a dime towards Limpopo province’s health budget.
She told the patient it improper to stretch her province’s health budget to cater for foreigners.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has now cited Ramathuba for unprofessional conduct and unbecoming behaviour.
In a report dated February 9, the HPCSA stated that a caution and reprimand would be imposed on Ramathuba “for unprofessional behaviour and unbecoming [conduct] of a medical professional [for] shouting at a patient’s bedside as the patient was vulnerable at the time”.
Some have expressed disappointment at the HPCSA for giving Ramathuba what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
Marlise Richter from the Health Justice Initiative said that while she welcomed the ruling on what she described as the MEC’s xenophobic, hostile and disrespectful behaviour, the sanction was a “limp” one.
“A temporary suspension, removal from the HPCSA register, a fine or compulsory professional service would have been more appropriate in these circumstances, as provided for by the Health Professions Act,” she explained.
Richter added that Ramathuba should not be holding public office and, as a public servant and leader in government, she should also face disciplinary action from her employers.
“I commend the members of the public who lodged the complaint with the HPCSA and encourage everyone who has experienced or seen instances of xenophobia to immediately report it to the relevant authorities or oversight bodies,” she said.
Dale McKinley from Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia expressed similar sentiments.
“We welcome the censure; I think it is important that health professionals understand that when they do this kind of thing, they do face some kind of consequence. However, from our side, we would have preferred that there be more sanctions, other than just a simple reprimand,” he said.
McKinley said Ramathuba’s xenophobic behaviour was unacceptable.
“We are disappointed that the HPCSA didn’t say anything about that, but we hope this sends out a warning to other health professionals or those who have abdicated their professional duties in treating everyone equally,” he added.
Her reaction invited wide scorn most prominently from South Africa’s opposition EFF leader Julius Malema.
Ramathuba later argued that her comments were not xenophobic but merely addressed Zimbabwe’s broken health system which was now negatively impacting her country’s health system.
