Bonitas Medical Fund appeals court ruling

Dr Bobby Ramasia, Principal Executive Officer of Bonitas Medical Fund has confirmed that the medical scheme has lodged an appeal against the High Court’s finding that medical schemes do not have the right of appeal against decisions made by the Registrar.

The hearing was held as a result of an application brought before the court by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) for a declaratory order after Bonitas lodged an appeal against the Registrar’s decision to order an inspection.

However before the appeal hearing the CMS informed Bonitas that it did not have the right to appeal and made an urgent application to the courts to make a ruling on the interpretation of Section 49 of the Medical Schemes Act.

In his ruling Judge Tuchten found that the decision to order an inspection “is not a decision that is appealable in terms of the provisions of Section 49.”

Commenting on court’s decision, Ramasia emphasised that the ruling clarifies the longstanding uncertainty around the interpretation of Section 49 of the Medical Schemes Act.

However he noted that in his ruling Judge Tuchten stated that there is a “notional” possibility that the inspection decision may be illegal and conceded that Bonitas case was “arguable.”

“On that basis Bonitas has lodged an appeal which suspends the inspection until the case is heard”, Ramasia said.

Ramasia explained that Bonitas had never been against the inspection per se and provided some 200 pages of information in December 2014.

“However we feel that the terms of the inspection are extremely broad. When the Registrar refused to meet with us to discuss the inspection or divulge why he deemed the inspection necessary, Bonitas filed an appeal against the decision to protect our rights and those of our members”.

It has since become evident that the focus of the inspection is the election of trustees which took place in 2012. The election was audited by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and although the CMS also inspected the election while Bonitas was under curatorship, they did not find any irregularities.

Brokers and Bonitas members should not be concerned since Bonitas remains in a healthy position both operationally and financially.

“We must now allow the law to run its course”, he said.