Dr Phophi Ramathuba: Inquiry begins over xenophobic rant at Zimbabwean patient

By Agencies

SOUTH AFRICA: The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) will this Tuesday proceed with its misconduct inquiry against Limpopo MEC for Health Dr Phophi Ramathuba for xenophobic remarks made to a Zimbabwean patient last year.

Ramathuba turned to the Pretoria high court to urgently stop the hearing scheduled for 25-27 July but failed. She wanted this order pending a later application to overturn the decision by the HPCSA to hold an inquiry.

Ramathuba’s tirade was captured on video and went viral on social media at the time. In the video, Ramathuba is seen berating a sick woman in a hospital bed in Bela-Bela, believed to be an undocumented foreign national.

When the woman says she speaks Shona, Ramathuba starts to lecture the woman, saying: “You are supposed to be with [Zimbabwean President Emmerson] Mnangagwa; you know he doesn’t give me money to operate. And I’m operating with my limited budget.”

She does this in front of an entourage that had joined her on the hospital visit. While the patient has no opportunity to respond fully, Ramathuba continues in what has been widely slammed as a bullying and “dehumanising diatribe”. The woman, who is not identified in the video, is told by Ramathuba that she will not be discharged till she settles her bill. Ramathuba then quips that she’s not “running a charity department” for Zimbabweans crossing the border.

In January this year, Ramathuba, a medical doctor, was sanctioned by the Health Professions Council of South Africa’s (HPCSA’s) Medical and Dental Professions Board. The board found there was evidence of unprofessional conduct by Ramathuba in violation of regulations under the Health Professions Act and imposed a penalty of “caution and reprimand” on her.

It found Ramathuba’s behaviour of “shouting at a patient’s bedside — who was vulnerable at the time” as “unprofessional and unbecoming” of a medical professional.

Ramathuba rejected the January findings and the sanction, according to the HPCSA’s legal adviser, Viceroy Maoka. As such, she will have to appear before the Medical and Dental Board’s Professional Conduct Committee in Pretoria. The inquiry is open to the public and has been set down for 25-27 July.

Defiant and unapologetic

Since the incident, Ramathuba has been defiant and unapologetic, stating that her priority is to reserve budgets and resources for South African citizens. She was backed up by the ANC in Limpopo.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, answering questions in Parliament shortly after the incident, side-stepped the issue, saying the “important issue that is currently under debate — raised in the presence of a patient, I guess… could have been raised in another way”.

There was widespread condemnation of Ramathuba’s conduct including from the health profession unions Nehawu and Hospersa. The embassy of Zimbabwe in Pretoria also raised a complaint through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.