DID you know that buying/selling contact lenses from the streets is illegal and is punishable by means of a penalty fee?
This is among the many things the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is trying to protect both the public and health professions from falling victim to.
The HPCSA is a statutory regulatory body established in terms of the Health Professions Act (Act no. 56 of 1974)
In conjunction with its 12 Professional Boards, the HPCSA is committed to promoting the health of the public, determining standards of professional education and training, and setting and maintaining excellent standards of ethical and professional practice.
The main issue they have currently been fighting with has been that of people who pose as doctors offering ‘safe, pain free abortions’.
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According to Mischaline Julius, the Inspectorate Officer for HPCSA, they currently have two criminal cases opened against such ‘doctors’ in Vryheid and one of them has been charged.
“I conducted an observation from the street opposite where one of these people was operating their business. He had a sign outside the building with wire that held pamphlets. When I went in to question him on how he was qualified, he told me that he was a sangoma and had been registered in another African country,” said Ms Julius.
Ms Julius went on to interview one of the people outside this man’s office who were waiting to see him, one of them was a young woman who seemed to be halfway through her pregnancy. She was there to have an abortion. Mischaline learned that the man was doing these abortions at R300 per client.
The HPCSA has close working relations with the South African Police Services, The Hawks, Department of Health, Municipalities; other regulatory Councils and Medical Aid schemes to combat and reduce criminal activities of illegal practice.
Illegal practice by unregistered persons include:
* Persons in possession of qualifications to practice healthcare professions but who are not registered with the HPCSA
* Practitioners who have been suspended for failure to pay annual fees or removed from the register by the boards
* People who neither have the prescribed training or registered with the HPCSA but still practice illegally ( the so called bogus doctors)
* A person who pretends to be registered and sells medical certificates (sick notes) fraudulently.
* People performing illegal abortions
* Sale of contact lenses (incl. cosmetic) whilst not registered with the HPCSA
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Upon registration, a practitioner is issued with a registration certificate which confirms his or her registration number, and a practicing card, which is issued on an annual basis on the renewal of the registration.
Members of the public and patients have the right to request a practitioner to show them proof of their registration with the HPCSA. It is essential to know the registration status of a practitioner who is to provide a particular service.
Members of the public can verify the registration status of a practitioner by checking on the HPCSA website www.hpcsa.co.za, or call 012 338 9300/1
The HPCSA encourages members of the public to report any suspected illegal practice to the Inspectorate office and to the South African Police Service. The Inspectorate Office accepts complaints from anyone including those from other practitioners, members of the public and those who want to remain anonymous.
The Inspectorate Office in KwaZulu Natal is situated at The Business Centre, 2 Ncondo Place, Umhlanga Rocks, Durban with phone number 031- 830 5293 or 94; Mischaline Julius or Busisiwe Nguse.
