Stock photo of a hospital corridor – Image: Canva
Stock photo of a hospital corridor – Image: Canva
It’s a controversial suggestion, but according to Gauteng’s Shadow Health MEC, it’s one that has been in the pipeline previously. Jack Bloom is now leading the charge for hospitals in the province to start billing embassies for the treatment of foreign nationals in local medical facilities.
The DA representative has been riled by a recent viral video, which captured a pregnant woman having to sleep on the floor of a hospital in Johannesburg. The overcrowding has been attributed to a rise in foreign patients, and the situation has now reached something of a nadir.
Foreign embassies should be billed for patients from their countries who are treated in Gauteng hospitals: https://t.co/28T1wJ8t5W
— DA Gauteng (@DA_GPL) April 4, 2022
The number of foreign births at some of our hospitals is more than 25% of total births, so it is a significant burden on our public health system. pic.twitter.com/vAiMIqeTtE
Of course, deciding to bill embassies for the treatment of foreign nationals wouldn’t be without controversy. After all, access to healthcare is seen as a universal human right – and doctors can’t pick and choose who they attend to.
However, with hospital facilities seemingly at breaking point across Gauteng, the DA are looking at ways to ease the financial burden on the health department. This contentious issue is likely to rumble on for a while…
“Foreign embassies should be billed for patients from their countries who are treated in Gauteng hospitals – this is a practical way to deal with the issue of foreign patients overburdening facilities, as seen in the video of pregnant women sleeping on the floor at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg.”
“Some years ago the Gauteng Health Department claimed that they were going to bill foreign embassies but nothing seems to have come from this. While most foreign patients live in South Africa, there are many cases where pregnant women from surrounding countries come to a South African hospital specifically to give birth.”
Jack Bloom