Amendment of section of injuries and diseases bill severely criticised

THE SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) AICA) has called for the amendment of Section 73 of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Bill to be rejected.

The portfolio committee on employment and labour is hearing oral submissions related to the bill.

Briefing the committee yesterday, Saica project director Juanita Steenkamp advised the committee to consider the impact the amendment would have on vulnerable employees and medical service providers, and questioned whether the regulatory impact assessment took this into account.

“We are concerned that valid claims that were ceded and assigned from medical service providers and submitted to the (Compensation) fund for payment prior to commencement of the act will be ‘void’.

“The existing pre-funding book would in effect be wiped off the balance sheet of companies with the effect that financial institutions that advanced funds to these companies will cancel all facilities and will foreclose on their security,” Steenkamp said.

Chairperson of the SA Medical Association, Dr Angelique Coetzee, said the amendment would have a catastrophic impact on injured workers and medical staff.

The amendment would mean medical practitioners who treated employees who qualified for compensation under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act would no longer be able to use their medical claims as surety for payment in any manner, and would be compelled to attend to the administration claims themselves without the assistance of third-party administrators in a highly dysfunctional environment, she said.