The crisis is a direct result of the dramatic increase in medical negligence claims in South Africa which has seen a 537% increase in the last 13 years.
Practitioners fear being sued for medical negligence and therefore they become reluctant to perform required surgeries which in turn have a detrimental effect on general healthcare.
In May 2016, Prof Malegapuru William Makgoba, a leading South African immunologist, physician, public health advocate and former Vice Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu Natal was elected as the health ombudsman.
The office of the ombudsman was established on 1 June 2016, in Pretoria with its primary role being to address the challenges faced in both the private and public healthcare sectors.
The ombudsman, an independent authority, is tasked with enforcing health and safety within the department and according to Moatsaledi "the ombudsman will act as a public protector in the healthcare sector – he is there to represent the public interest".
The standards of the International Ombudsman Association will be upheld in respect of the duties of the newly elected ombudsman.
As such, the ombudsman's mandate is to:
Listen to and understand any grievances that members of the public as well as practitioners in the healthcare sector may have;
Assist aggrieved members of the public and inform them of all the options available to them;
Guide members of the public and practitioners as to the manner in which they are to deal with each other;
Identify opportunities for positive change within the Department of Health.
The ombudsman, who is required to report directly to the Health Minister, will guide patients with regard to following the correct procedure for complaints against practitioners or healthcare services in general.
In addition, he will also be expected to facilitate opening the lines of communication between practitioners and their patients in an effort to prevent matters from escalating unnecessarily.
The primary objective of the ombudsman's office is to improve clinical governance significantly by promoting excellent quality and well managed healthcare services to as many people as possible.
The ombudsman will provide a central point for the public to lay any and every healthcare related complaint ranging from malpractice by medical practitioners to long queues and poor infrastructure at hospitals. In an effort to maintain transparency, complaints will be received via email, social media and on the ombudsman's website.
The ombudsman is charged with the authority to mediate but cannot take disciplinary action against medical practitioners. Where the ombudsman is of the view that a practitioner must be disciplined, he will refer the particular complaint and the practitioner to the HPCSA.
The HPCSA has reportedly received the health ombudsman in a positive manner with its spokeswoman indicating that the Council is looking forward to working with the ombudsman because the Council's mandate as it currently stands does not allow for it to deal with aspects relating to clinical governance such as "dirty hospitals", "equipment issues" and "shortage of hospital staff", all of which are equally imperative for efficient healthcare services.
