NHI implementation must advance equitable healthcare access despite legal delays. However, constitutional obligations and the merits of a particular funding model remain separate questions. Section 27 guarantees access to healthcare services. It requires reasonable legislative and other measures, within available resources, to progressively realise that right. It does not prescribe NHI as the required financing mechanism. In February 2026, the…
Tag: HPCSA
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Unpaid specialist training strains SA doctors
Unpaid specialist training is becoming an increasingly visible feature of South Africa’s public health system as doctors compete for a limited number of funded training posts. Some local doctors are working without salaries for extended periods to gain the clinical experience required to qualify as specialists. Almost all of the clinical training required for specialisation and sub-specialisation takes place in…
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Fake Doctors In South Africa Pose Sophisticated Threat
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has raised serious concerns over the growing number of fraudulent medical practitioners. The association warns that these individuals are becoming significantly harder to detect. According to SAMA, these fraudsters use increasingly sophisticated methods to impersonate qualified professionals. Their tactics include presenting forged qualifications and falsifying registration documents. In some extreme cases, they even assume…
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Medical Aid Forensic Audits: UP Study Flags Physiotherapist Harm
Physiotherapists say medical aid forensic audits are leaving them “fearful, stigmatised and traumatised”, according to new research from the University of Pretoria (UP). The study suggests that processes meant to protect patients’ money may be causing serious harm to practitioners and destabilising private practices. Lesley Meyer, an extraordinary lecturer in UP’s department of physiotherapy, led a study recently published in…
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Bogus Doctors in focus as HPCSA Warns on Rising Fraud
The Health Professions Council of South Africa HPCSA is warning that unregistered practitioners are putting lives at risk. New cases of “bogus doctors” continue to surface. “If you’re in the hands of an unqualified person, you’re as well as dead,” says. The council is responsible for registering medical doctors and other health professionals. It also investigates complaints about practitioners practising…