Medical claims on the increase

MEDICAL negligence claims have increased from R28.6 billion to R80.4bn in three years, forcing provincial health departments to divert funds from key services.

The government has implemented measures to deal with claims, including legislative amendments.

The Treasury said although patients had a right to claim for negligence, the recourse was disproportionate.

“Patients have the right to compensation for injuries resulting from medical negligence. However, the number of and value of claims lodged against provincial departments of health in recent years appear to have risen disproportionately,” said the Treasury.

It said between 2015 and 2018, payments for claims “increased from R498.7million to R2.8bn”.

“The mounting value of claims puts enormous pressure on provincial health budgets, with departments increasingly forced to divert funding from service provision to pay these claims,” said the Treasury.

It said there were various reasons for the increase, including poor health care, poor record-keeping of patients, legal capacity and the behaviour of law firms.

Measures being taken to address the issue included paying attention to areas where claims were high, improving patient record-keeping, hiring more medical specialists, regularly inspecting hospitals and clinics to ensure compliance with norms and standards and tightening the medico-legal units in provinces.

The government was also considering amending the law to allow for claims to be paid over a period instead of as lump sums.

This would give provincial departments a breather and enable them to use their funds where they were needed.

In 2016, provinces complained to Parliament about the increase in medical claims. The Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-natal and Gauteng had the most medical claims.

MECS in the provinces complained that some of the claims were unjustified and accused some law firms of abusing the system.