HPCSA blamed for massive RAF payout backlog

The the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) is blamed for a huge backlog of RAF claims at the Western Cape High Court where thousands of RAF cases have not been allocated trial dates. The situation has become so dire that judges have asked claimants’ attorneys to get to the bottom of the problem, and to provide them with a ‘record of correspondence’ showing the history of their communication with the HPCSA, notes a Weekend Argus report. It says the attorneys have written letters to the HPCSA to inform it of the judges’ requests. The letters warn that in the event that there is no feedback on the progress of the cases, subpoenas will be requested to compel the HPCSA to ‘explain to the judge the tardiness of your organisation in finalising this’. The bottleneck appears to be an HPCSA tribunal, which consists of three independent medical practitioners, set up to assess serious claims. The RAF explained that a claim for general damages can only be paid if an injury has been assessed as a serious injury in terms of applicable regulations. ‘Therefore, any dispute relating to a serious injury must be referred to the tribunal for dispute resolution in terms of the regulations.’ Personal injury attorney Tzvi Brivik reportedly told the newspaper there were two issues preventing cases from being finalised. The first was matters which did not involve serious injury being referred to the HPCSA, and the second was the RAF disputing obviously serious injuries, with the apparent aim of delaying finalisation and payment. The HPSCA has remained silent on the issue