Woman faces jail for $34 000 hospital debt

A BULAWAYO woman whose late mother owed Mater Dei Hospital more than $34 000 in unpaid medical bills, has been issued with summons for civil imprisonment.

The debt emanates from medical services and drugs supplied to the late Ms Reginah Ncube by Mater Dei Hospital between November 8 in 2014 and March 4 in 2015.

Ms Ncube was admitted to the Roman Catholic-run hospital during that period for an undisclosed ailment before she later succumbed to the disease.

According to the hospital, the deceased's daughter, Ms Kathleen Van Ginkel of Malindela suburb who bound herself as surety, is obliged to either pay $34 008 or face civil imprisonment of up to 90 days in jail.

In papers filed at the Bulawayo High Court, Ms Van Ginkel has been cited as the defendant under case number HC 43/17.

"The defendant is called upon to pay the plaintiff the sum of $34 008,80 with interest at the prescribed rate from 8 July 2016 to the date of full and final payment. You are required to pay the money by virtue of a judgment obtained against yourself in Bulawayo on 14 September 2016 under which you were ordered to pay the sum of $34 008,80 with costs on an attorney-client scale," reads part of the summons.

"If you (defendant) fail to pay the sum specified above ($34 008,80), you must appear before the High Court at Bulawayo … to explain why you have not paid it and to show cause why an order of your imprisonment should not be made on account of your failure to pay."

Ms Van Ginkel was in September last year ordered by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Francis Bere to pay the money together with interest and legal costs incurred by the hospital.

Mater Dei Hospital had through its lawyers, Coghlan and Welsh Legal Practitioners, approached the High Court seeking an order compelling Ms Van Ginkel to pay her late mother's medical bill.

According to the court papers, between November 8 in 2014 and March 4 in 2015, Mater Dei Hospital rendered hospital services and supplied pharmaceutical drugs and medication to the late Ms Ncube. In terms of the agreement entered between the hospital and the defendant, Ms Van Ginkel bound herself as the surety for the medical bill.

The money was due upon Ms Ncube's discharge from hospital.

The court will conduct an inquiry into the defendant's financial position and depending on the circumstances, it may commit her to prison or alternatively give her further time to pay the money in instalments over a specified period.