Progressive Health Forum calls for Phophi Ramathuba’s dismissal

The Progressive Health Forum wants Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba dismissed.

Ramathuba was recorded berating a foreign national in a Bela Bela hospital.

The organization says the MEC’s actions contradict both ethical and constitutional guidelines.

The Forum’s Professor Alex van den Heever says that as a senior government official, there must be consequences.

“There so many things that are wrong, one is the Hippocratic oath, but she was not in that situation as a doctor and she wasn’t there in a position as a doctor and also in a position to be able to see patients or to even speak to them or to challenge their conduct in any way.

“She in many respects was a private person when she was standing there before that patient and if I went into a hospital and started speaking to a patient like that, you know I should be arrested on the spot. It’s completely inappropriate,” he said.

“So she’s got no basis for acting as if though she’s got a role in berating that patient in any level.

“But you can’t get away from the fact that she is a senior representative of the government and that disproportionate power relation and one that can influence other staff members is a serious one and that means that she really needs to be held to account for it.”