The High Court in Pretoria has struck off the court roll the application by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) due to lack of urgency.
GEMS asked the court to stop the release of an interim report by the Section 59 Investigation into racial profiling of doctors by medical aids.
GEMS and the Board of Healthcare Funders court application to block the public release of an interim report on racial discrimination against some doctors has been struck off the roll by the Pretoria High Court due to lack of urgency. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/Ozv0o4z9dD
— Sipho Stuurman (@Sipho_Stuurman) January 19, 2021
The report was set to be released on Sunday.
GEMS brought the urgent application, saying it was not within the powers of Section 59 investigation to release the report.
They also argued that releasing the report would cause them irreparable harm, be prejudicial to them and damage their reputation.
Judge Colleen Collis however ruled the urgency was self-created as neither GEMS or any other body tried to prevent the publication of the findings earlier, when it was scheduled for release in December.
Judge Collins struck the matter of the urgent roll and reserved costs.
“They ought to have taken this step earlier on. They could not have envisaged with an earlier date being announced that these dates would have been postponed. And if they had any rights to be protected, such rights existed earlier on already. The applicants before court took a passive stance. They folded their arms and waited for the eleventh hour to approach the court. Consequently, I am in agreement that the urgency of the application is entirely self-created,” said Judge Collins.
In the document below, the interim report into alleged doctor racial profiling by medical aids:
