The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) is due to hear an urgent application to stop Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) from implementing new medical tariffs, which could have disastrous consequences for road accident victims needing emergency or specialised care.
The new tariffs were promulgated by the Minister in August and will see medical professionals in the private sector being paid reduced tariffs.
If the new tariffs are not scrapped, thousands of vehicle accident victims would have to resort to the overburdened public health sector, which in most cases, is unlikely to provide the emergency or long-term care many of the accident victims would need, said the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD).
IOL reports that the tariffs are so low that road accident victims without medical aids will not be able to get care at private health facilities. They will have to turn to state facilities, as few doctors in the private sector will treat a patient at the prescribed rates.
“In many cases these patients will not get the care they need in the public sector either, as it often cannot provide the immediate or long-term care needed by many accident victims, especially those rendered paraplegic or quadriplegic,” said Therina Wentzel, national director of the NCPD, in an affidavit filed at court.
Wentzel said road accident victims were unable to claim against those who actually injured them; they were totally reliant upon the RAF to pay their costs.
But as the tariffs now stand, practitioners and service providers, like private ambulance companies, were unwilling to assist at the given tariffs, which are grossly below the industry rates.
Neither the RAF nor the minister has responded to the request or filed opposing papers to the application, due to be heard in December. It is, meanwhile, feared that the new tariffs can come into operation any day.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Discovery wins court bid to stop ‘rogue’ RAF’ directive
Accident victim challenges RAF decision on medical aid payments
Discovery challenges RAF directive in court
Mbalula and RAF scrabble to prevent release of Auditor-General’s findings