Thank you, hon Chairperson and the hon member, Sokatsha. The question relates to a report by Commission for Gender Equality which was quite well publicised which made allegations that in some of our facilities, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, that HIV- positive women have been coerced into sterilisation.
Hon members, this allegation of coerced sterilisation of human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, pregnant women is very alarming and considered in a very serious light by the Ministry and the Department of Health. We cannot ignore such an allegation, it is very serious. However, the Department of Health wishes to state it categorically that there is no policy or guideline that has been issued that provides for sterilisation of HIV positive pregnant women, whether by consent to being sterilised or not. Being sterilised cannot be a precondition for delivering through a caesarean section.
Our polices are based on the Bill of Rights in our Constitution which states that everyone has a right to bodily and psychological integrity which includes; making decisions concerning reproduction, security in and control over your body and not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without informed consent. The only instance in which a clinician may not obtain informed consent from the patient is if the patient is not in a good mental state which precludes this or in the case where the patient is in comma. In these instances there would be still an informed consent obtained from the next of kin or in some cases from a court- appointed guardian. So, that is the law and the regulation.
The department had received this report from the Commission of Gender Equality. We also met with the chairperson, the deputy chairperson and the chief executive officer, CEO, of the commission. During the meeting, we raised a range of issues in an attempt to seek clarity including the copies of the affidavits that complainants deposed and details of how the investigation was conducted as the report did not contain these details. The chairperson of the commission promised to provide the additional details requested within two weeks. However, unfortunately up to now we have not received this report.
Therefore, this given, it limits our ability to really respond in detail. We have also requested our legal department to investigate this matter further. However, in order to better understand the nature and extent of the complaint and to take corrective action, we will establish - as a department - our own panel of independent experts including nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, and medical specialists to investigate the allegation including the whole issue of forced sterilisation. We will also request the people who were said to be the victims through a well publicised campaign to come forward and approach us and also where they need to do this in privacy, we also have approached the ombudsman person, Professor Makgoba, also to be available so that these matters can receive proper attention.
So, once this has been done, where there is transgression we will take appropriate steps if people have to be disciplined once there is clear information. Thus far, the Commission for Gender Equality has not helped in terms of providing clear information to us so that we can say that; it was in this hospital and this is the person who said this. It was very general in terms of the report which we received. We are awaiting their own confirmation of the details including the actual victims and the institutions where this happened. Then, we can be able to take appropriate action. Thank you, hon Chair.