Pretoria: The Health Ministry has wished the South African Medical Association (Sama) chairperson, Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa, a speedy recovery after he was attacked while driving home from the King Shaka International Airport over the weekend.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo visited Mzukwa at the Durban hospital where he is being treated.
“I was very heartened to find him on his recovery bed and commended him for his heroic action of driving himself while bleeding and in pain to the nearest hospital to save his life… Had he waited a bit longer, his condition could have deteriorated,” said Dhlomo.
“We would also like to thank the emergency medical services, nursing staff and police for (their) swift response.”
The Department of Health said it was working hard to ensure emergency medical services personnel had the shortest possible response time throughout the country, by increasing capacity and resource allocation.
In April, Mzukwa spoke to IOL, decrying the treatment of patients at the Rahima Moosa Hospital, a public health facility in Johannesburg, after a video went viral on social media. The video showed crowds of pregnant women, requiring medical attention, crammed together on the floor.
Reacting to the social media backlash, City of Joburg’s MMC for health and social development Ashley Sauls said the hospital was burdened by undocumented migrants, many of whom lived far from the hospital.
At the time, Mzukwa said South Africa hospitals could not be expected to discriminate against patients.
“Government cannot expect clinicians to be chasing away foreign nationals. It is not our domain. All we do as clinicians, if we see a patient who needs medical attention in a hospital premises, we just offer that service without asking any questions. We are not the Department of Home Affairs,” Mzukwa told IOL.
“We do not deal with immigration or whatever. We do not even want to know whether a patient is an asylum seeker or whatever. Once you are in hospital premises and you are sick, all we do is give you medical attention.”
IOL