Health Law

The legislative and policy framework for the health industry is multi-faceted and complex. It ranges from the the central National Health Act that sets the blueprint for the health system to a diverse set of specific laws. For example, laws that govern the regulation of health professions, the development, registration and access to medicines, the regulation of medical schemes and control of communicable diseases. 

Overlying the intricate legislative and policy matrix is the constitutional right of access to health care services, which is protected in section 27 of the Constitution. Many of our members have an exceptional reputation in constitutional litigation, including on aspects of the right to health.

Members of Thulamela Chambers have been involved in cutting edge litigation and processes in the field of health law. These include:  

• legal counsel to the Competition Commission in the ground-breaking Health Market Inquiry that was conducted by the Commission and led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ncgobo;

• the protection of the rights of mental health patients in the Life Esidimeni Arbitration;

• litigation relating to the Covid-19 Disaster Declaration and Regulations; 

• advising both the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and pharmaceutical industry in matters involving the registration of medicines; and

• involvement in the Inquiry into Allegations of Unfair Racial Discrimination by Medical Schemes. 

Medical negligence is an area of personal injury litigation that is on the rise and has a tremendous impact on the funding of health care and the delivery of health care.  Thulamela counsel have been acting on the part of plaintiffs and defendants in this complex and challenging area of law.

Thulamela Chambers also houses members who are experts on the legal aspects of the proposed National Health Insurance system - a subject that, prior to the Covid-19 emergency, featured prominently as the next phase of radical reform of the health system.