What does it take for us to be outraged?

EMERGENCY CARE

- DR RAYMOND PERRIER

READERS of this column may already know about the actions of the self— appointed vigilantes outside Addington Hospital and other government facilities. They have been standing just outside the gates and demanding that anyone going into the hospital shows them their ID.

That in itself is a problem since an ordinary citizen has no legal basis to require someone to show them their ID.

But what they then do is so shocking. Because it is they who decide whether or not someone can access a medical appointment, collect medication, visit a sick relative, or accompany an elderly patient or a child into the hospital. They claim that they are not interfering with emergency care but, since they stand at the A and E entrance as well as the main door, they are obstructing access there as well — and they are not in any way equipped to assess whether someone’s health needs are urgent.

They argue that they are doing the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) job for them by blocking access for “illegal migrants”. But that is false. The DHA’s job is to control borders, or to check if migrants are breaking the law by, for example, working illegally. It is not a crime to go to a hospital.

In fact, it is a constitutional right since Section 27 states: “Everyone has the right to access health care including reproductive health care.”

There is no exclusion based on nationality or legal status. “Everyone” means everyone.

Subsequent legislation has confirmed that the right to health care is not limited only to South African citizens. Of course, the drafters of the Constitution and Parliament could have decided otherwise, but they have not. So, unless and until that is changed, that is what the law says.