By ‘Majirata Latela
Scores of patients seeking medical attention at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital were this week left stranded as the hospital found itself handicapped by a court order emanating from a legal battle with a service provider.
The patients could not access health services and were turned back the park homes from which the hospital operates at the Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) premises at Sebaboleng in Maseru.
This after a court order-wielding BRAVOPRO (Pty) Ltd locked up and the park homes and barred the hospital from using them, rendering the facility non-functional except for critical services like pre-natal and post-natal care, as well as other key administrative duties like facilitating referrals.
BRAVOPRO is the company that erected the park homes at the BEDCO site after the old Queen Elizabeth II Hospital was demolished.
The company was granted relief after it had demanded the ministry of health pays a balance of M1.550 million for erecting the structures that serve as makeshift consulting rooms and offices.
The court order was issued in August 2021 after the company filed papers demanding to be paid money owed to it by the ministry.
In February 2020 the ministry of health announced the commencement of the erection of the park homes. But it took well in excess of one year before the structures were operational.
Speaking to theReporter this week BRAVOPRO (Pty) Ltd company director and project manager, Rantsubise Matete, accused the health ministry for failing to honour the court order. The court order had directed the ministry to pay the company the remaining balance due to company after erecting the M7.6 million park homes.
In July 2021 the company said it was waging a legal battle against the ministry of health for alleged failure to pay the company the stated amount of money. The company said it was taking such a measure following protracted negotiations to pen down an agreement facilitating payment.
“In August 2021 after the matter was taken to court, a court order was issued indicating that the ministry should pay us at least half of what they were owing us within 90 days. We then opened the park homes and let the ministry to operate as we waited for pay.
“Even with the remaining balance it was the ministry which was not fulfilling its job of finding and preparing a place where we could place the remaining four park homes as the space which was identified could only accommodate nine park homes.
“On January 26 2022 we sent the ministry a courtesy reminder that they should be aware that the 90 days will soon be over. We had hoped that the ministry will respond and maybe give us an explanation to say why it was not complying with the order,” Matete said.
“Upon realisation that the ministry does not explain or say anything to us, we were only left with no choice but to deny them access to the park homes. We are now at the point where we have to make the court aware that the ministry has not honoured the order. We are not doing this to spite anyone but to show the ministry that we need our payment,” Matete said.
He added that upon closing, they were called in the morning of Wednesday by the hospital administration asking for the files which were locked in the park homes. We could not give them those files because they knew exactly what was to happen if the ministry was not paying or communicating to us.
He said they have incurred a lot of expenses with the court case and they will take the ministry to task to pay for legal fees.
The ministry of health public relations manager, ‘Mamolise Falatsa, admitted receipt of a report that BRAVOPRO (Pty) Ltd abruptly shut down all access to the park homes.
She went on to say that indeed the ministry owed the company and there had been several misunderstandings which resulted in the legal battle. She said the ministry knew about the 90 days that it was given to pay the amount and has been communicating with the ministry of development planning and ministry of finance to ensure the payment was made.
Falatsa added that her ministry was in the process of expediting the payment, saying the matter was being handled by the acting director – estate management.
“In December 2021, the director was informed that payment had been and the voucher was sent to the ministry of health, she observed.
“When the company contested that it had not received he money, it was then proved the ministry had not paid. Upon making enquiries at both finance and development planning ministries, it was discovered that no such payment had been made.
“The payment was made today (Wednesday) and since the transfer is from one bank to another it takes time; the company will maybe receive the money on Thursday (yesterday). Investigations have started as to what really transpired and it has been clear that there is a ministry of finance officer who did not process the payment.
“The officer will be questioned and disciplinary measures will be taken because in this case many lives suffered only because someone, somewhere did not do the job. The closure of those park homes has caused disruptions to the hospital,” she said.
Falatsa also pointed out that many patients who were adversely affected by the closure are those that are treated in Bloemfontein as their files were locked in there. She showed that some patients had already been scheduled for check-ups while others were to undergo surgery.
“We had no choice but to sneak people in the park home to steal the files so that those patients do not cancel their appointments. We are hoping that by Thursday everything will be back to normal,” Falatsa said.
Last year, this publication reported about the disuse of the park homes erected at the site. They have since turned into white elephants while Queen Elizabeth II Hospital continued to be crowded with patients seeking health services.
The hospital operated in a small building in the area, making it impossible for patients, nurses and apparently doctors to adhere to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Covid-19 protocol of social distancing.
The park homes were supposed to be a temporary hospital for Queen II while the new M800 million Maseru District Hospital is being built by Chinese firm Shanghai Construction Company.
