Foreign embassies should be billed for patients from their countries who are treated in Gauteng hospitals.
This is a practical way to deal with the issue of foreign patients overburdening Gauteng hospitals that has recently been highlighted by a video of pregnant women sleeping on the floor at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg.
Some years ago the Gauteng Health Department claimed that they were going to bill foreign embassies but nothing seems to have come from this.
The legal position is that pregnant women who are in labour cannot be refused access to care as it is an emergency condition.
While most foreign patients live in South Africa, there are many cases where pregnant women from surrounding countries come to a South African hospital specifically to give birth.
The proportion of foreign births at some Gauteng hospitals is more than 25% of total births, so it is a significant burden on our public health system.
I will be asking questions in the Gauteng Legislature as to whether embassies are being billed for foreign patients and if not, why not.