No action against Aids doctor
2008-02-07 21:32
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Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has not taken disciplinary action against a doctor for dispensing dual therapy treatment to HIV-positive babies, a health spokesperson said on Thursday.
Provincial health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said: "He has contravened policy. We are not against dual therapy treatment for HIV-positive babies, but it is not something that has been implemented yet. We have not yet budgeted for it and we do not have the capacity yet for it."
Mbangwa was reacting to claims by the Democratic Alliance health spokesperson Mike Waters that Dr Colin Pfaff at Manguzi Hospital in northern KwaZulu-Natal was facing a charge of misconduct for administering the therapy.
Earlier this week Waters wrote to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang asking her to intervene against the provincial Health Department.
In a statement released on Thursday, Water said: "Dr Pfaff was suspended for applying what had at the time just been agreed to as official policy, so the action of the MEC for Health (Peggy Nkonyeni) was in contravention of a national policy that had not only been agreed to by the National Health Council, but also been backed by the Deputy President herself.
"As such, the Minister has every right to intervene, and a simple phone call to the MEC would have been enough to resolve the matter.
"One has to ask how she allows a provincial government to take a stand that is in such direct conflict with what has now become national policy," he said.
'A labour issue'
Waters said Tshabalala-Msimang's response to his letter - that Pfaff's suspension was a simple human resources matter in which she had no authority to intervene - was dishonest and indicative of the double standards she continually applied to matters relating to HIV/Aids."
However, Mbangwa said that while the policy had been agreed to by the National Health Council, it had yet to be implemented in the province.
He said that Pfaff had not yet been charged, but had been asked by the department "why he should not be charged".
"This is a labour issue. When an employee works for a firm he has to abide by their rules. This is not a politicking thing."
He said that one of the issues was that Pfaff had secured donations for the hospital and that while the department was not against donations, Pfaff had not followed the department's guidelines on obtaining donations.
National health spokesperson Sibani Mngadi could not be immediately reached for comment.
Pfaff could not be reached for comment. Earlier in the week, he confirmed the case but declined to talk to Sapa, saying he could not speak to the media.
- SAPA