Dr Rajesh Patel, Head of the Health System Strengthening Department, BHF

Dr Rajesh Patel is registered with the HPCSA as a Specialist Family Physician with 37 years of experience in the health sector. Dr Patel is the Head of the Health System Strengthening Department at the BHF. He advises the body on health policy, medical scheme benefits, healthcare quality and affordability.

His career includes working as a GP/family physician for seven years, from 1988 to 1995. After leaving private practice, he joined the medical aid industry. His roles in the medical scheme sector include having served as a medical advisor, scheme manager, and in clinical risk management. Prior to joining the BHF in 2005 Dr Patel spent two and a half years in the pharmaceutical industry. His special interests are quality assurance, value-based medicine, and the application of public health principles in health risk management in the private sector.

He was a member of the ministerial Health Data Advisory and Co-ordinating Committee (HDACC), and was appointed as a Commissioner to the Lancet National Commission (SA). He was a non-executive director of the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) and Health Quality Assessment (HQA), as well as a former Chairperson of the Clinical Review Committee of HQA. Dr Patel has a MBChB from the University of Natal, an MPH from Medunsa, an FCFP from the College of Medicine, and a Diploma in Business Management from Damelin.