The Gauteng Department of Health was ordered to amend its policy by 16 October 2023. The court said any such policies or circulars are inconsistent with the National Health Act and are invalid.
The prices of fake asylum permits vary according to how advanced the pregnancy is. But this does not guarantee acceptance as some clinic staff now have a way of detecting that the documents are fake. “What we are faced with is an institutional problem within the Department of Health where health staff are the very people chasing undocumented and vulnerable pregnant women from registering at clinics and making xenophobic remarks,” said Ethel Musonza of the Zimbabwe Isolated Women in South Africa .
National Department of Health spokesperson for Johannesburg Foster Mogale said the department had not received any formal complaints from women who had been denied treatment at any of these clinics in Gauteng. He urged people to lodge formal complaints. Health workers found to have violated patients rights would be “dealt with,” he saidIn Pretoria, some immigrants from Democratic Republic of Congo whose asylum documents had expired were registered by Doctors without Borders in Marabastad.