While the arrest of two men following an investigation into unlawful medical practices is disturbing to say the least, in the case of Wednesday’s raids on earmarked surgeries, there is a really bright silver lining.
Here we saw a truly integrated effort by different regulatory agencies to stem what many citizens may not have realised is a gravely serious issue – the fraudulent issuing of medical clearance certificates for public driver’s permits.
Whether this is being done by qualified and registered doctors or those with phony credentials is beside the point.
The well-orchestrated sortie in Nelson Mandela Bay speaks to the fact that health and traffic authorities see it as far more than just a few isolated instances.
In a country with an appalling record of carnage on our roads all year round, what may on the face it seem like the lesser crime of a document sham is in fact devastatingly impactful if it is in any way contributing to the unacceptably high death toll from road accidents.
The guilt of those arrested and any others who are similarly charged will be decided by the courts.But what is extremely encouraging is how different supervisory organisations pooled their resources to confront alleged corruption.This was not on any state capture or deeply embedded government or private enterprise scale. But graft which could be happening under our very noses in the least likely of places – a medical practitioner’s rooms where trust and diligence is paramount.We so often see a disconnect between different arms of government in addressing issues which demand synergy if solutions are to be found – something which Eastern Cape premier-elect Oscar Mabuyane vowed to tackle when spelling out his five-year game plan.That needs to happen a lot more often.The combined law enforcement endeavours we witnessed on Wednesday are proof positive it works.