PRETORIA - Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi is dismayed by the recent report which revealed that medical schemes were found to have acted unfairly against black doctors.
The long awaited Section 59 panel report which was released on Monday revealed that some medical aid schemes discriminated against black healthcare providers.
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The probe was a result of complaints by health professionals about their treatment.
According to Motsoaledi, some of these complaints started in 2019.
"In 2021 a preliminary report was released and showed that things are bad and I had no reason to believe that the final one would be very much different," he said.
Back in 2019, members of the National Health Care Professionals Association (NHCPA) and Solutionist Thinkers, made public allegations that they were being discriminated against by medical schemes.
Additionally they alleged that their claims were being withheld based on their race and ethnicity.
The affected parties appealed to the Minister of Health for intervention.
This saw the minister direct the Council for Medical Schemes, a regulatory board to establish an independent investigation panel known as Section 59 Inquiry to probe the allegations.
With the report now out some of the recommendations include that schemes and administrators should develop an early warning system to prevent not only prejudice to providers.
But also benefit schemes as providers engaging in abusive behaviour are likely to adopt corrective measures rapidly to prevent ongoing losses to schemes.
Another recommendation is to review the audit and claw back time period