Dramatic drop in medico-legal claims bill, says KZN Department of Health

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has attributed the decline in the costs of medico-legal claims to a number of steps that have been taken.

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Published May 25, 2022

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DURBAN - THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has attributed the decline in the costs of medico-legal claims to a number of steps that have been taken, including establishing a directorate to investigate every potential claim, and current claim that was lodged against it.

There have been concerns over the years that this expenditure item, which has run into billions of rand each year, could bankrupt the department if it is not contained.

In 2019, according to the Office of the Auditor-General, the department was facing lawsuits amounting to nearly R20 billion.

But while tabling the department’s budget this month, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane revealed that the department had finalised 33 medicolegal cases during 2021/2022, at a cost of R 242.5 million.

The cases had an initial cost at the summons stage of R459m but this figure had been reduced owing to the hard work by the directorate, she said.

However, opposition parties have questioned the accuracy of the decline in medico-legal claims, saying the department was painting a rosy picture while the costs attached to the item continued to climb.

Responding to The Mercury query this week, department spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa insisted that the decline in the costs was real, pointing to a number of steps taken by the department in order to arrest the runaway expenditure.

He attributed the high costs to the unethical practice of touting by certain unscrupulous law firms, a practice which he stressed was regarded as unprofessional, unethical and unlawful.

“In fact, at some point, one of the law firms had, on its own, lodged a whopping 96 claims against the department in just two months, which was highly suspicious,” said Maphisa.

He added that as part of concerted efforts to reduce the claims, the department had appointed a team of legal experts who were responsible for investigating every potential claim, and each medico-legal claim that was lodged against the department and advised on the correct course of action to follow, as well as the quantum of damages to be awarded where necessary.

“Members of this team also assist by representing the department in court. Part of the strategy used by the team is the resolution of cases without going to court, as well as removing old and prescribed cases from the database,” said the spokesperson.

According to the department other factors contributing to the decline included:

The implementation of mediation as a tool to reduce the costs of medicolegal claims, where cases are resolved without the need of going through the costly court processes.

Establishing specialised rehabilitative health-care centres to assist children who are born with cerebral palsy and other ailments. These centres are located at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital; Durban Children’s Hospital; Northdale Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre; and at Phoenix Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre and provided occupational therapy, physiotherapy, audio therapy, and speech therapy among other services.

However, DA health spokesperson Dr Rishigen Viranna said the department was attempting to dupe the public into believing that the costs had declined, saying in the medium term the true picture of the state of affairs on medico-legal claims would be evident.

He cited the Covid-19 enforced lockdown in 2020 as the real reason the department had seen a decline in claims.

“The fact of the matter is that when the country was closed so were the courts and therefore there were no claims to be made against the department because there was no such platform.

“Now that the country is open we will see how high this item has risen,” said Viranna.

IFP KZN provincial spokesperson for Health Ncamisile Nkwanyana, noted that medico-legal claims for hospitals took a large chunk of the budget, pointing to the fact that claims had increased from R20.1bn (2018/19) to R23.4bn (2019/20).

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