Thomas Johnson - Medical Blog

Tygerberg Hospital's and Western Cape Healh Department's (WCHD) prosecution of three doctors for stealing a broken chair that had been dumped and which they intended repairing for the staff tearoom has been overturned on appeal. Sectoral bargaining council commissioner Gail McEwan ordered the finding of theft be expunged from all records. This clears doctors Mathew de Swardt, Kim Morgan and Manie Domingo who are now able to get on with their careers. However, outrageous and vindictive as the prosecution was, the overreaction of the media, e.g. Politicsweb William Saunderson-Meyer, is curious.  It's of interest but a storm in a teacup, not worth the investigation and resources he and others put into it. Did anyone die; were patients or staff harmed beyond the doctors' ego and careers; was there theft of resources and medicines (broken chairs don't count)? As I said about the Life Esidimeni case where over a hundred people died and no one found culpable, the ...

On Monday, after frustrating attempts to communicate with incoming Western Cape Police Commissioner Lt-Gen. Yolisa Matakata's office, I emailed her front-of-office person Mr J Jacob, “Gen. Matakata, purportedly brought in as a new broom, has no control over her office”. The reason for this outburst is on January 7 I sent her a letter complaining about Woodstock detectives' refusal to open criminal charges of corruption against officers of the Health Professions Council including a medical board member, Elmin Steyn, Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Hospital head of surgery. The alleged conduct meets the requirements of corrupt activities under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. (I notified the HPCSA's CEO/registrar Dr Raymond Billa mid-2019 there was a possibility of corrupt activities but he did nothing and didn't report it to the police as the Act requires. The SIU is investigating the HPCSA for bribery for medical licences. Ironically, the HPCSA, ...