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MBABANE – Are doctors breathalysed before duty?
This question was posed by Senator Sylvia Mthethwa, who raised a concern on the questionable state of some doctors while on duty.
Mthethwa was of the view that doctors should be checked before they commenced their duties, as it had emerged that some of them were attending to patients while under the influence of alcohol.
The senators had a meeting with the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, and officials from the ministry to go through the Health Bill, 2022 and look at each clause of the Bill for purposes of making amendments.
The object of this Bill is to strengthen the health capacity system and its performance for effective health service delivery; protect the general health of the public; and improve access to essential, affordable and quality health services for the Eswatini populace, among other things.
In response to the question posed by Mthethwa, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry Dr Simon Zwane said currently, local doctors were not checked or breathalysed before duty to determine their state of sobriety as the country had not reached that level yet.
He said they relied on the oath that doctors took which entailed that above all, they would do no harm to the profession.
“If the doctor reports for duty while under the influence of alcohol, that means they have breached the conditions of the oath and they stand to be taken for a disciplinary action for bad conduct,” he said.
Zwane further shared that with more emerging concerns about doctors who reported for duty while under the influence, they might be propelled to put them under surveillance and they also needed to be reminded that they took an oath. The concern of doctors who allegedly attend to patients while under the influence of
alcohol was first raised by Senator Chief Magudvulela.
The legislator alleged that some doctors attended to patients while under the influence of alcohol.
The senator made this startling allegation during the annual performance report and budget debate for the Ministry of Health over two weeks ago.