Moratorium Placed on Problematic Medical Indemnity Cover Gazette

October 7 - A controversial law that was published two months ago, pertaining to the need for medical practitioners in South Africa to take have compulsory indemnity cover, has been frozen while the matter is examined by the relevant parties.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) placed a moratorium on the new regulations as discussions on the indemnity cover continue to be held between the Medical Protection Society, the Department of Health and the Financial Services Board.

No date has been given for the lifting of the moratorium, and the HPCSA would only say that it would remain in place until all issues had been ironed out.

The main argument by the South African Medical Association is that the majority of doctors in the country simply cannot afford such high indemnity cover.

"Gynaecologists are paying the most expensive cover - about R120 000 a year," explained the Chairman of the SAMA, Norman Mabasa. "For neurosurgeons, it is about R70 000 a year and for general practitioners, about R5 000 for the whole year. The insurance industry is going to make millions from doctors."

Mabasa said that there were weaknesses in the gazette as it did not specify the minimum and maximum cover that practitioners needed to take.

"It puts us at risk of being under-covered or over-insured and we could be exploited by the insurance industry because everyone will know that this is compulsory," he said.

Adding insult to injury was the fact that doctors would not be able to renew their HPCSA membership if they were not covered.

The Acting Registrar of the Health Professions Council of South Africa, Tshepo Boikanyo said: "The promulgation of these regulations is key as HPCSA, in guiding the country's health care professionals, needs to ensure that practitioners are adequately covered to indemnify themselves for malpractice claims and that providers of this cover are regulated by the laws of the republic."