SA's biggest private hospital group, [b]Netcare[/b] has defended its flagship public-private partnership in Lesotho, after a damning [b]Oxfam[/b] report said the project was costing so much more than expected that it threatened to blow the impoverished country's health budget, reports [s]Business Day[/s]. Netcare holds 40% of the [b]Tsepong[/b] consortium, which won an R800m tender in 2007 to build, finance and run the [b]Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital[/b] in Maseru. Netcare GM for finance Chris Smith said the Lesotho government was indeed paying more than it had originally expected for services provided by the hospital, but this was solely due to higher demand than forecast.
[link url=http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/healthcare/2014/04/08/netcare-denies-hospital-will-blow-lesothos-health-budget]Full Business Day report[/link]
[link url=http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/policy/dangerous-diversion-lesotho-public-private-health]Oxfam report[/link]