On 21 May 2015, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) struck Dr RF Mahfouz off of its register.
Mahfouz was found guilty on three charges of unprofessional conduct, according to Section 1 of the Health Professions Act. This has resulted in Mahfouz being “barred and dismissed from the Public Service”, as well as no longer able to practise as a general practitioner.
The charges
In a statement released by the HPCSA said: “[Mahfouz] issued medical certificates to a variety of patients employed at a variety of employers, and recommending sick leave purportedly on the basis of his examination of the patients during the period from October 2008 to December 2010 without just cause.”
The second charge that he was found guilty of was not keeping proper patient records “in respect of one or more or all of the patients”. According to the HPCSA, Mahfouz also “failed to produce the patient records in respect of one or more or all of those patients when the said files were requested from him during an investigation.”
The last charge that Mahfouz was found guilty of was practising “in a capacity other than his registration category.” In other words, Mahfouz was registered as a general practitioner (GP), but was carrying out medical procedures or acts that were outside of this registration category.
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The HPCSA was contacted for further comment, but had not responded at the time of publication, 26 May 2015.