Dr Mildred Chauke and her daughter, Audrey, were arrested after an incident at the Middelburg Med 24 clinic.

On Saturday 9 August Desmond Mtombeni brought his wife, Wandile, to the clinic.

Matters got out of hand when Mr Mtombeni demanded his signed medical aid form back after his wife was seen by Dr Chauke.

Dr Chauke says that she tried to explain that the form will be used to claim money for the consultation.

According to a police report Mr Mtombeni was upset because he had to sign an empty form. Dr Chauke says this is a blatant lie and that she has the form to prove it.

“I have to leave certain areas open until after the consultation. I cannot look at someone at reception and guess what my diagnosis is going to be.”

Dr Chauke said that it was not the first time Mr Mtombeni visited the clinic.

“He knows how it works, he is one of my patients. I have almost ten signed forms from him. Why now all of a sudden does he come here and demand his form back? They came to defraud me.”

Dr Chauke says that she was assaulted and harassed by police before she was forced to lash out to protect her staff and the credibility of her clinic.

She is adamant that it was the circumstances prior to the incident that caused her and later her daughter’s arrests.

“The man was harassing me. He was shouting and swearing and scaring the girls that work at reception. And then he brought his police friend to come and help him. The police were supposed to diffuse the situation, not make it worse.”

Dr Chauke was taken to the Middelburg Police Station after she and the officer called in by Mr Mtombeni got into a physical fight over the claim form and he called for backup.

“That form contains confidential medical information. It is not for anyone to see. If they had a problem they could have taken me to court and I would have produced it there,” says Dr Chauke.

She says that the form was not damaged by her, but by the police officer during their confrontation, whom she claims has also been a patient at the clinic.

“This is not a charity organisation. I am running a service for 24 hours that is very expensive. You can come here or you don’t have to. But if you make use of my services, you have to pay.”