By Neelam Rahim

It has emerged that the harassment suffered by Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital paediatrician Dr Tim de Maayer continues after he has received a written warning for blowing the whistle on conditions at the institution. De Maayer was briefly suspended after writing an open letter on the conditions at the hospital but was allowed to return to work after pressure from colleagues and academics who form part of the I Am movement.

In discussion with Radio Islam International is the DA’s, Jack Bloom.

According to Jack, Dr De Maayer is a hero and should have never been suspended, nor had disciplinary action against him. The department should have engaged with his concerns and fixed up the hospital.

He says they have got their priorities wrong. Indeed, they should have fixed the hospital’s poor conditions.

In De Maayer’s open letter, he wrote because he said he was going nowhere through the usual channels. He pointed out that some of these child patients were dying because there was no proper equipment or their power failure and shortage of water, including poor conditions. The Gauteng Health Department should be telling us a host of issues about the progress they have made on it. He added that they have instead harassed an excellent Doctor who is doing his best.

Jack tells Radio Islam that DE Maayer’s suspension was only reversed because of the public outcry. He said the person who should be suspended and subject to disciplinary procedures is the hospital’s CEO, who in the reply received turns out to be the one who instituted the disciplinary proceedings against De Maayer.

He says whistle-blowers follow their conscience hopefully but unfortunately does not seem as if they are treated very well in the real world. There is legislation that supposedly protects them, but the reality we have seen is that it often doesn’t.

The worst case was Babita Deokaran, murdered last year because she was blowing the whistle on corruption in the Gauteng Health Department, he added.

Listen to the full interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.