Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Michele Clarke MP.
The DA will request both the Health Ombud, Professor Taole Mokoena, and the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate allegations that foreign mothers-to-be are being belittled and forced to pay bribes for access to birthing facilities and assistance at the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Gauteng.
According to CityPress foreign nationals are also effectively being held hostage as nurses refuse to discharge mothers and babies until they have been paid. There also seems to be discrimination against foreign nationals regarding their birth records.
This despite a recent Gauteng High Court order confirming the constitutional right to free health care for all pregnant and lactating women and children under six, irrespective of their nationality or documentation status.
The fact that foreign nationals continue to struggle with access to health care, particularly in Gauteng, is callous and immoral, and should not be tolerated.
The DA expects all personnel found to be complicit in this scam to be disciplined.
We will conduct an oversight to the hospital to ensure that this corrupt practice has been halted immediately.
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