Cape Town - The Workmen’s Compensation Fund has criticised the country’s doctors for going public with the so-called “continuous failure” of the fund, involving alleged maladministration and non-payment of doctors and injured patients.
Vuyo Mafata, the acting commissioner of the fund, has instead accused the SA Medical Association (Sama) of failing to meet with the fund in a bid to “iron out their differences” before approaching the media.
His comments follow a call made by Sama on Wednesday for doctors not to treat patients “who had been injured on the job”. The organisation representing the country’s doctors said the fund’s claim system is “dysfunctional”.
Sama held a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday, calling for a judicial review of the fund, following a commission which found maladministration, lengthy delays in payments, and even non-payment of doctors and patients in some cases.
The fund, which falls under the auspices of the Department of Labour, is intended to pay compensation for death or disability caused by occupational injuries sustained or disease contracted by employees in the workplace.
Mafata hit back at the claims made by Sama.
“The position of Sama is regretted. We have made attempts to meet with Sama so that we can address the challenges that their members are facing. However, they have not agreed to our request, as yet. The Minister of Labour has taken steps to address the service delivery challenges that the fund is experiencing,” he said.
He said one of the interventions was his secondment as acting commissioner of the fund, after Shadrack Mkhonto became the department’s chief operating officer. Last month, Mafata was installed as acting commissioner after having served as chief financial officer of the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
The shake-up came after Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts summoned the department to explain the poor state of the fund’s financial affairs.
Mafata said the fund was open to talks.
“We remain open to having discussions with Sama and other affected stakeholders to address their concerns. In terms of legislation, we process claims within 90 days of receiving a claim.
“Although the fund attempts to make these payment speedily, there are some cases where we have taken longer due to unavailability of information. The fund is continuously improving its systems to improve efficiency,” he said, adding that teething problems with a new IT system were being addressed.
This week, Sama’s chairman, Dr Mzukisi Grootboom, who had personally investigated the management of the fund, said despite receiving millions of rand in contributions every year with the expectation of paying out employee claims regularly, the compensation fund had failed to do this, resulting in huge backlogs of unpaid claims.
Grootboom said: “Claims that are literally decades old have not been paid and the backlog shows no signs of abating. Despite repeated assurance by the various officials who have occupied the position of the compensation commissioner, to address the maladministration and backlog in claims processing, the position has not improved.”
Cape Argus