Pretoria - Publication of the contentious 2012 pricing
guidelines for doctors and dentists has been put on hold, the Health Professions
Council of SA (HPCSA) said on Thursday.
"The delay in the publication was due to consideration
of the reaction of the practitioners (and affected organisations), who accused
the HPCSA of disregarding their input," said HPCSA president Sam
Mokgokong.
It was also a result of the threat of legal action by role
players in the health sector against the HPCSA, had it implemented the
guidelines.
Mokgokong said the prospect of the debacle derailing the
national health care delivery in the country also played a part.
The HPCSA said it was temporarily postponing the publication
and that the distressed role players would be given an opportunity to make
presentations at a council meeting on September 3.
Various medical and dental associations threatened to take
legal action against the statutory body if the publication of the guidelines
was not halted.
On Tuesday, HPCSA Ombudsman Dr Abdul Wahab Barday said the
guidelines had been formulated as a result of numerous complaints that
practitioners were overcharging the public.
The SA Society of Anaesthesiologists (Sasa) welcomed the
delay and applauded Mokgokgong's intervention.
Sasa president Dr Hyla Kluyts said the organisation and
other role players had raised their concerns with the HPCSA at a meeting on
Wednesday.
"Prof Mokgokgong obviously realised the (possible)
negative implications on healthcare in South Africa," said Kluyts.
The SA Medical Association (Sama) also welcomed the
decision.
Acting chairperson Mark Sondersup said the HPCSA had
disregarded advice by basing the guidelines on the 2006 national health
reference price list.
"We believe the HPCSA erred in drawing up their tariff
guidelines by ignoring valid inputs that have been made. They omitted 1 033 new
treatment procedures," said Sonderup.
On Tuesday, the HPCSA said it had used the 2006 price list -
which was determined by the Council for Medical Schemes in conjunction with the
national health department as a baseline - and had added an inflator of 46.66%.
In 2010, courts declared invalid the 2007 national health reference price list, which was based on the 2006 list. The 2012 guidelines are the first come up with since then.
*Follow Fin24 on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.