Pascalinah Kabi
Former Health Minister, ‘Molotsi Monyamane, and two senior officials in the ministry are embroiled in a payment dispute with the government involving millions of maloti, with the Ministry of Finance questioning the appointment of their private surgeries as service providers.
This was came out during the Health ministry’s recent appearance before the parliamentary Social Cluster Portfolio Committee where the ministry’s Principal Secretary, Monaphathi Maraka, revealed that the ministry owed the eight health facilities payments totaling M3, 512, 111.
Dr Monyamane’s Healthy Lifestyle Clinic, along with seven other clinics including those of senior ministry staffers, Dr Nyane Letsie (Living and Loving Family Clinic) and Dr Limpho Maile (Bophelong Specialist Clinic) were contracted under the Ministry of Health’s Workplace Programme to deliver free and convenient HIV and Aids and Tuberculosis services to thousands of factory workers living with HIV.
The other clinics are Willies Hospital (run by a Dr Tšolo), Golden Touch Clinic (Dr Piet McPherson), Karabo Family Medicine (Dr Kose), Medical Arts Clinic (Dr Molapo) and Poly Clinic (Dr Jersey).
“Healthy Lifestyles owned by Dr Monyamane is owed M777 000, Dr Letsie’s Living and Loving Family Clinic M532 450 and Dr Maile’s Bophelong Specialist M186 890,” Mr Maraka said in response to a question posed by one of the legislators who only identified himself as Mr Molapo.
Mr Maraka also revealed Willies Hospital was owed M727 151, Golden Touch Clinic (M161 950), Karabo Family Medicine (M270 650), Medical Arts Clinic (M383 820) and Poli Clinic (M491 800).
Mr Molapo had asked Mr Maraka if he was aware that some of the private doctors engaged under the workplace programme had not been paid for many years and they were threatening to withdraw their services.
“One of the biggest worries regarding this matter is that the doctors are threatening to pull out of the programme if they are not paid and if they stopped rolling out these medications, we are creating another problem in Lesotho.
“So, Mr PS we are asking you to follow up on this matter because if they stop providing the services, there will be overcrowding in the government hospitals and some of the workplace programme beneficiaries will stop taking medication,” Mr Molapo said.
In his response, Mr Maraka said the eight doctors’ payments were budgeted for in the recurrent budget but they had however, failed to pay them because the Ministry of Finance had not transferred the funds to facilitate payment.
He said the Ministry of Finance queried the eight facilities’ payments, saying it suspected there could be conflict of interest especially where it came to some of the doctors who worked for the ministry and also provided private services under the workplace programme at the same time.
He said the programme brought the health services closer to thousands of factory workers but the Finance Ministry was reluctant to release the funds because of civil servants’ involvement.
He said they had since written to the Finance Ministry to motivate why these doctors should be paid.
“We have showed that it is true that there might have been a conflict of interest but Lesotho has a policy that allows its doctors to engage in private practice. Besides that, thousands of factory workers are on antiretroviral and tuberculosis medication and they still receiving these services from the same doctors owed by the ministry.
“These doctors have not stopped to deliver these services and based on these reasons we have asked the Ministry of Finance to process the payments. We have further indicated that we will terminate contracts of those doctors with conflict of interest. We are only left with few days before March 13, which is the cut-off date for the 2017/18 payments,” Mr Maraka said.
Member of Parliament ‘Mantšiuoa Mosothoane was however not convinced by this explanation, arguing that the doctors could have had undue influence in the selection of their facilities because “they knew very well what is expected of their facilities in order to be accredited”.
Meanwhile, Dr Monyamane, who was Health Minister in the previous Pakalitha Mosisili until the 3 June 2017 snap national elections, warned the legislators against politicising the issue.
He said he began providing services under the programme in 2004 – 11 years before he was appointed a minister.
“I was the first doctor to serve under the workplace programme in 2004. The Lesotho HIV and Aids status is where it is today because of my dedication to serving the people of Lesotho working at the factories. I was not a health minister in 2004 when this programme was first introduced,” Dr Monyamane said.
“They should have checked their facts before saying I am conflicted. I resigned from that company immediately after my appointment as a minister of health.
“I am neither a director nor a shareholder in that company. There is a doctor and nurses working in that company and they should be paid for their hard work,” he added.