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Allied Health Professions Act, 1982 (Act No. 63 of 1982)

Chapter 2 : Registration of Practitioners and Students

Registration of Practitioners

16. Allied health professions

 

(1) The Minister may, at the request of the council, by notice in the Gazette declare the provisions of this Act to be applicable to any profession which has as its object the promotion of health, or the treatment, prevention or relief of physical or mental defects, illnesses or deficiencies in humans, excluding any profession referred to in subsection (1A) or any profession to which the provisions of the Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974), the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974), the Nursing Act, 1978 (Act No. 50 of 1978), or the Dental Technicians Act, 1979 (Act No. 19 of 1979), apply.

 

(1A) The professions excluded in terms of subsection (1) are the professions of—
(a) ayurveda, chiropractic and homeopathy;
(b) naturopathy, osteopathy and phytotherapy, for which professional registers shall be re-established with effect from the date of commencement of the Chiropractors, Homeopaths and Allied Health Service Professions Second Amendment Act, 2000; and
(c) Chinese medicine and acupuncture, therapeutic aromatherapy, therapeutic massage therapy and therapeutic reflexology, for which professional registers shall be established with effect from the date of commencement of the Chiropractors, Homeopaths and Allied Health Service Professions Second Amendment Act, 2000.

 

(2) The Minister may, on the recommendation of the council, by regulation define the scope of any allied health profession by specifying the acts which shall for the purposes of the application of this Act be deemed to be acts pertaining to that profession: Provided that such regulation shall not be made unless the professional board concerned which has been established in terms of section 10A in respect of any allied health profession and may in the opinion of the Minister be affected by such regulation, has been given an opportunity of submitting, through the council, representations as to the definition of the scope of the profession concerned: Provided further that if there is a difference of opinion between the council and such professional board as to the definition of the scope of the profession concerned, the council shall mention such fact in its recommendation.

 

(3) Subject to the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act, 1965 (Act No. 101 of 1965), and subject to the approval of the Medicines Control Council, the Minister may, on the recommendation of the council, by regulation prescribe access to and availability of medicines relative to the professions registered in terms of this Act.

 

(4)
(a) Subject to the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act, 1965 (Act No. 101 of 1965), every practitioner whose name has been entered in the register of dispensing practitioners contemplated in paragraph (b) may, on such conditions as the council, after consultation with the relevant professional board, may determine in writing, in general or in a particular case, compound or dispense medicine prescribed by himself or herself or by any other practitioner with whom he or she is in partnership or with whom he or she is associated as principal or assistant or locum tenens, for use by a patient under treatment by such practitioner or such other practitioner: Provided that he or she may not keep an open shop or pharmacy.
(b) The registrar shall keep a register of practitioners who have the right in terms of this section to dispense scheduled substances and shall, at the direction of the council, enter in the register the name of a practitioner and such other particulars as the council may determine if the practitioner—
(i) within three months after the commencement of the Chiropractors, Homeopaths and Allied Health Service Professions Second Amendment Act, 2000, submits proof to the satisfaction of the registrar that immediately before such commencement date he or she compounded or dispensed medicine as contemplated in paragraph (a) in the practice of his or her profession; or
(ii) informs the registrar in the prescribed manner of his or her intention to compound or dispense medicine in the practice of his or her profession as contemplated in paragraph (a).

 

(5) The council may, after an investigation conducted by the council into the activities of a practitioner with regard to the compounding or dispensing of medicine and in consultation with the relevant professional board, direct that the name of any person be removed from the register contemplated in subsection (4) (b), or prohibit him or her for a specific period from making use of the right contemplated in subsection (4).

 

(6) The council may by regulation determine fees to be paid for the entering or re-entering of a name in the register contemplated in subsection (4) (b).

 

[Section 16 substituted by section 14 of Act No. 50 of 2000]