The Eastern Cape Health Department must within 30 days pay R7.7 million in damages to the mother of a child born with cerebral palsy due to the negligence of hospital staff.
Image: File
WHILE the State is obliged to pay monetary claims within 30 days to a claimant in which a final order is granted, there is nothing in law preventing the periodic payment of the lump sum, if warranted, but there are also limits.
This is according to an Eastern Cape High Court judge who had put his foot down when the MEC for Health in the province wanted to pay the mother of a child born with cerebral palsy in instalments.
The court earlier ordered the health authorities in the province to pay more than R4.7 million to the mother. The Health MEC, on the other hand, said budget constraints prevented it from paying this amount in one go. It also said that if this amount was paid all at once, other patients who need medical care in the Eastern Cape would suffer due to the financial shortfall.
But counsel for the mother argued that the family needed the money to care for the child and demanded that the money be paid all at once.
The mother, in her personal capacity and on behalf of her child, sued the health authorities for damages resulting from cerebral palsy that her child, N, sustained during her birth at Madwaleni Hospital.
The brain injury was a result of the negligence of the medical staff of the hospital. The court ordered the department in September 2022 to pay more than R4.7 million in damages, which was due to be held in a trust account. The family now turned to court yet again, as they are still owed this money.
The defendant contends that the agreed amount of damages should be paid in two instalments that are six months apart, as follows – R3 million as the initial instalment and the rest six months thereafter.
The plaintiff contends that the damages must be paid within 30 days of the order of this court. It argued that payment of the lump sum will materially and detrimentally impact its ability to deliver medical services in the province.
According to the MEC, it is in the interests of all persons who require access to public health care services that the damages be paid in instalments.
The State Liability Act makes provision for the satisfaction of a court order sounding in money within 30 days or within an agreed period of time. Since there is no agreement on the periodic payment, the MEC must pay all at once, counsel for the mother argued.
Judge Lindiwe Rusi, sitting in the Mthatha High Court, said the law is in place to promote accountability, efficiency, and financial stability in the administration of government departments as well as safeguard the rights of a litigant who successfully litigates against the State.
While it allows for periodic payments in certain cases, the State (the MEC in this case) must specifically prove that paying the full amount will cause the State harm and impact its service delivery duties. This was not done.
She said the child’s needs had to be balanced against that of the State and an unsubstantiated assertion regarding budgetary constraints and obligation towards other beneficiaries does not assist the MEC in this case.
Judge Rusi said if she allowed the MEC to pay the damages in two instalments, that would mean that N’s interests have been arbitrarily relegated to insignificance.
She ordered the department to pay the entire amount of damages within 30 days of this order.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za