Confidential medical files dumped

Community members have access to personal details in old hospital building

TONS of boxes of patients’ medical files have been dumped in an old building, which used to be the Nkhensani Hospital in Giyani, Limpopo.

The Limpopo branch of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said this was a violation of a patient’s right to confidentiality. The files have been dumped where the local community can easily access them.

This could have a negative impact on the lives of patients who put their trust in the Department of Health when they divulge their personal and confidential medical information.

TAC provincial manager, Moses Makhomisani, said his organisation was worried as the files appeared to have been dumped in the building long enough for curious community members to have already paged through some of the files.

“It seems that some of the files have been kept there long enough for us to believe that people may already have had access to them. The building was left abandoned and is now being used by people walking past as a toilet area,” said Makhomisani.

Patient confidentiality is enshrined in law as the National Health Act of 2003 makes it an offence to disclose a patient’s information without their consent, except in certain circumstances. Patients have the right to expect that their information will be held in confidence by healthcare practitioners.

“What we have come across has raised serious concerns over this gross violation of the act. Whoever took the decision to have the files dumped should be charged. Imagine that a person has a chronic condition which he or she has not disclosed and now, because another community member has come across their dumped file, that information becomes public? It can negatively affect people rest of their lives,” he said.

Makhomisani added that the TAC was calling on Limpopo Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, to investigate the matter urgently and take action against those responsible for the mass dumping.

“This matter should be treated as urgent because people’s lives might be affected by this act and those who are behind this must be charged,” he said.

Health Department spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana, said that the department was not aware of the incident, but would investigate.

“People from the hospital will be going there to establish the facts,” he said. | for the

Patient files pile up in what was the Nkhensani Hospital in Limpopo, within access of the community, in contravention of the 2003 National Health Act.