Netcare is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n health care company. It is the largest provider of private healthcare in both South Africa and the UK. It acquired a controlling stake in the UK's General Healthcare Group in 2006, and also provides services to the National Health Service

National Health Service

The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

 via its subsidiary Netcare UK.

History

Netcare was established in 1996, and was listed on the JSE Limited (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) the same year. It initially expanded into the UK in 2001, and acquired a controlling stake in General Healthcare Group, the UK's largest private hospital group, in 2006.

"cash for kidney" transplants

At the Durban regional court on 9th November 2010, Netcare KwaZulu (NKZ) pleaded guilty on 102 counts relating to illegal operations between June 2001 and November 2003. It was fined R7,820,000 (£704,000). Police said these included five counts of "unlawfully acquiring and transplanting human kidneys by acquiring kidneys from five minors in law at the time the kidneys were transplanted". Netcare admitted that some of the kidney donors were "minors" but there were no details of the children's ages or nationalities. The group made a plea bargain in which criminal charges against the parent company, Netcare, and its chief executive, Richard Friedland, were unconditionally withdrawn.

External links

• www.netcare.co.za