Health

If request for report is made by a patient:

[a] A request for a medical report must be made in writing to Medico-legal unit of the hospital and Manager: Medical Services. This may be in the form of a letter [hand written or typed], email, or fax. Written consent must be obtained from the patient prior to the issuing of the report and must be attached to the letter along with the accompanying proof of payment of the prescribed fees.

[b]    UPFS - FEE SCHEDULE FOR FULL PAYING PATIENTS

Patient requesting medical record	Free
Not personal requester for medical record	R35, 00
SPECIALIST MEDICAL REPORTS
Specialist medical report	R 558,00
Clinical notes	R 363,00
Completion of certificate	R 363,00
Completion of mmf1	R 558,00
Completion of mmf1 and notes	R 921,00
Copies of x-rays	R 293,00
Cremation forms	R 209,00

[c] The medical report may take a few weeks [4 – 5 weeks] as the waiting time for the medical report is influenced by various factors including

• the availability of the treating doctor;
• time since the patient’s last visit to the hospital;
• whether or not the treating doctor is still employed at the current institution

If request is made by private medical practitioner:

[a] The procedure is as for [a] above.

[b] If the medical report is for continued clinical care of the patient, no fee is charged.

[c] The waiting time is as for as [c] above, but the medical practitioner may be assisted quicker as medical records can be e-mailed to them within a day or two.

If request is made by a lawyer for medico-legal aspects or third party [non continuation of care]:

[a] The Promotion of Access to Information Act should be followed in obtaining the record. Note the Act states in section 3: “This Act applies to a record of a public body regardless of when the record came into being.”

[b] The cost of applying is determined by Ministerial regulations [Min of Justice and Constitutional Development – Regulation Gazette No 7278, Vol 440, Pretoria, 15 February 2002, No 23119]. This schedule states: “The request fee payable by every requester, other than a personal requester, referred to in regulation 7[2] is R35,00.” We interpret this to mean that a patient requesting his or her own record may access the record free of charge. If the record is requested by anyone else, on behalf of the patient, then the R35,00 fee applies. Note, however, the department is allowed to charge for reproducing the record as follows:

R0,60 – A4 photocopy

R0,40 – A4 printed page

R40,00 – CD

R22,00 – Transcription of visual images

R60,00 – Copy of visual images

R12,00 – Transcription of audio record

R17,00 – copy of audio record

[c]   The waiting time is as for [c] above. However, depending how soon the court case is due, every effort is made to expedite the process and shorten the waiting time. No third party, neither doctor nor lawyer, may be granted access to a patient record without the consent of the patient or legal guardian. [Treating doctors are allowed access to health records for the purpose of preparing a defense.] The procedure for a patient, doctor or lawyer is the same throughout except that doctors and lawyers would have to show that they have the patient’s consent.

The Act allows 30 days to respond to a request with the option of extending this period if the granting of the record requires a significant amount of work. The Department has been experiencing some delays due to reasons outlined above but we are attending to those requests received.