Discovery seeks R1m over ‘dodgy’ dealings
Court hears of pharmacy customers charging nappies to medical aid scheme
DISCOVERY Health is suing a Durban pharmacy for R1-million, accusing it of allowing customers to charge items such as nappies and sandals to the medical aid scheme.
But the family-owned Main Pharmacy in Pinetown is fighting the claim in the High Court in Durban.
According to court papers, Discovery Health told pharmacy owner Previsha Harripershad that, during a claims review process, it had observed irregularities, including the dispensing of items for which one cannot claim from the scheme.
In her affidavit, Harripershad said she received a letter from an investigator for Discovery in February last year, which she forwarded to her lawyer to arrange a meeting.
“I was 36 weeks pregnant and was advised by my doctor that I should not travel after the 38th week of my pregnancy,” said Harripershad. “I was contacted by Jason Kistnasamy, an investigator from Discovery, who implored me to meet with Discovery as soon as possible.”
She replied that she had instructed an attorney to handle the matter. But, she said, Kistnasamy told her this was unnecessary because it would be a preliminary meeting and the matter could easily be resolved.
Last year, accompanied by
The threats made against me by Discovery Health were unfounded as I was not the person on duty when approached by the traps
her husband, Ravesh Pillay, Harripershad met Discovery representatives in Sandton, Gauteng. She said she was told at the meeting that the company had set “traps” at her two pharmacies and that she owed a percentage on sales over the past three years.
She said the Discovery representatives became aggressive when she disputed this and challenged the amount she owed. “They were alleging that every sin- gle transaction with them was in some way flawed.”
She said she was told that unless she signed an acknowledgement of debt, Discovery would report her to the South African Pharmacy Council, take away her licence and charge her criminally. She was not allowed to call her attorney and signed the document “under extreme duress”.
According to a record of the meeting, Harripershad acknowledged that the phar- macy had submitted claims for non-claimable items. “She says the pharmacy has to do it in order to survive in Pinetown,” the record said. “Previsha and Ravesh suggest that they pay back 40% of what the pharmacy received unduly during the past three years.”
But Harripershad said in her court papers that the R1-million claimed by Discovery was “far-fetched”. “[It] was proposed by Discovery Health without even giving us an opportunity to investigate the allegations that were made against me.”
She said complaints made by Discovery to the pharmacy council were made against the pharmacists who were on duty at the time of the traps, and not against her or the close corporation that owned the businesses.
“The threats made against me by Discovery Health were unfounded as I was not the person on duty when approached by the traps,” she said. “The threats to charge me were made to extort a written acknowledgement of debt for amounts that Discovery Health well knew it would be unable to prove.”
Discovery Health claims Harripershad has breached her acknowledgement of debt and failed to pay the R1-million.
The case is ongoing.