Tag: Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)

It’s the law. If you are absent from work for more than two consecutive days, or more than twice within eight weeks, you have to provide a doctor’s note to your employer, according to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).

South Africa is not only the most unequal country in the world, it also does not care well enough for its weak and sick. Its inequitable access to healthcare is iniquitous in many parts of the developing world. But to me, a former South African who left the country during one of South Africa’s darkest periods in history, which was rife with government oppression at the time, it reflects the legacy of apartheid.

South Africa’s third wave of COVID-19 saw healthcare professionals put in tragic circumstances where they must, in some cases, choose which patients to try and save. Effectively who lives and who dies. For healthcare professionals forced to make unenviable decisions about how to allocate clinical resourcing, this trauma is sadly compounded by the potential risk of being prosecuted for unlawful killing after being forced to make such decisions.

COVID-19 highlighted the necessity of having a viable telemedicine regime as a ‘safety net’ to ensure continued access to healthcare services whilst maximising social distancing. We now have an opportunity to better understand the challenges and exploit the benefits of telemedicine services.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has recognised the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and provided special guidelines that will apply during the pandemic. The HPCSA will continue to operate, but with restrictions.

Pursuant to a circular published by the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS) on 26 March 2020 (the Circular), declaring COVID-19 a prescribed minimum benefit, as that term is defined in the Medical Schemes Act No. 131 of 1998 (MSA), the Minister of the Health has amended the MSA to align with the Circular. 

Employers and employees have rights when it comes to sick leave, but fraudulent sick notes are a rising problem. In the wake of Jacob Zuma’s alleged medical certificate presented to court in January 2020, there has been widening controversy around these documents and their validity in the South African workplace.