PHUTI MOSOMANE
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla welcomes the appointment of South Africa’s second Health Ombud, Professor Taole Resetselemang Mokoena.
Professor Mokoena takes over from Professor Malegapuru Mokgoba whose term as the Health Ombud ended on 31 May.
Dr Phaahla told media on Friday that it was his pleasure to announce Mokoena as Makgoba’s successor from 1 June.
Makgoba was appointed by the former Health Minister who is now Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in June 2016 for a non-renewable seven-year term.
The Health Ombud is an independent body established in terms of the National Health Amendment Act of 2013, with a responsibility to protect and promote the health and safety of users of health services by considering, investigating, and disposing of complaints in the national health system relating to non-compliance with prescribed norms and standards.
The Health Ombud is located within the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC), a Schedule 3A public entity in terms of the PFMA. The mandate of the OHSC includes, amongst others, the responsibility to monitor the implementation of the recommendations made by the Health Ombud.
Who is Professor Taole Resetselemang Mokoena
Professor Mokoena is regarded as one of the most outstanding South African medical scholars who has transcended the globe to show the quality of the South Africans academic prowess.
He is a medical graduate of the University of Natal, D.Phil graduate of University of Oxford and a fellow of Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Mokoena recently retired as a Professor and Academic Head of Department of Surgery, Chief Surgeon of Department of General Surgery at University of Pretoria and Steve Biko Academic Hospital. But he continues his work on part-time or sessional basis to teach, train and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and research.
Mokoena’s clinical and research interests encompass immunology, oncology and endocrinology, and having previously been part of the renal transplant unit in Universities of Natal and Witwatersrand.
He is active in academic and professional leadership, having served at different times on a number of national and professional bodies like South African Medical Association, Health Professions Council of South Africa, Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, College of Surgeons of South Africa.
In 1996, he was also appointed to chair a Panel for the Investigation of Surgical Deaths at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and the Panel of Inquiry into Discrimination within the Cardiology Department at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
Phaahla said Mokoena’s track record gives credence to his appointment as the new Health Ombud, armed with experience in investigations and inquiries in wrongdoing and injustices in the healthcare sector.
“We are confident that Professor Mokoena will execute his work with diligence and absolute sense of justice, eschewing impartiality and no prejudice to all. The Department of Health wishes him success in his new responsibility and assure him of unparalleled support at all material times,” he said.
Some of Makgoba’s achievements in the last seven years?
Phaahla said since Makgoba assumed office he has displayed patriotism and commitment to the creation of an improved healthcare service in the country, by impartially and with no favour or prejudice, investigating complaints brought to his office and making recommendations that are invaluable to the health system in the country.
He was expectedly assisted by his long service and experience in the clinical care work, knowledge of the public service and the requisite needs of a better and durable healthcare system.
Bestowed with a daunting task of establishing this office since he was the first South African Health Ombud, allowing the country to follow the good examples and practices of other countries in ensuring that our people receive an improved quality healthcare in a modernized health infrastructure.
Some of the major investigations conducted under Makgoba’s leadership include Life Esidimeni involving mental health patients, Tembisa Hospital and the recent Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, which bear testimony to the intent to assist the government and the public to build the durable health system.
Industry practitioners say Makgoba did not only attend to high profile complaints but also spent a huge amount of his term following on the complaints of ordinary people who visit our healthcare facilities.
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