The former owner of Sunshine Hospital in Actonville, Ken Ford, disclosed to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on October 21 that the new buyer of the hospital defaulted on their purchase agreement.

Ford outlined the hospital’s strained relationship with the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and detailed how the fund still owed the Sunshine Hospital more than R300m.

The 200-bed hospital on an erf of 4 895m² was sold for R21m at an Aucor Property auction in July.

According to Ford, the buyer, believed to be a doctor representing a company, had 45 days to secure the deal, but failed to do so.

Ford was unclear whether the deal was still in progress.

Benoni City Times contacted a business development professional from Aucor Property to ask if he could put the newspaper in contact with the new buyer. He declined, explaining that the buyer was not yet ready to speak to the media but would do so once the transfer was finalised.

Also Read: Sunshine Hospital sold for R21m at auction

Scopa recently launched a parliamentary inquiry into the RAF amid growing allegations of financial mismanagement, governance failures, and procurement irregularities.

During his presentation to the committee, Ford said the hospital had issued 6 285 summonses and obtained 647 court judgments worth R180m ordering the RAF to settle its debt, yet it had still not paid the hospital.

He explained that even after RAF payments stopped, the hospital continued operating, relying solely on medical aid claims and cash payments from patients to sustain operations.

“We did everything we could to continue. We didn’t have a contract with the RAF, so we knew we could lose them. If we were frightened that we would never get paid, why would we have reopened?”

Ford said he hoped that the hospital could be revived, adding that he continued to receive urgent messages from other healthcare facilities wanting to transfer patients to Sunshine Hospital after it closed.

Ford said he worked as an entrepreneur and consultant to banks before acquiring Sunshine Hospital and had no prior relationship with the RAF.

“We didn’t know we would get RAF patients when we bought the hospital. We didn’t have a business model around RAF patients.”

He noted that while medical aid payments typically arrived within 14 to 30 days, RAF claims could take up to a year.

Ford said that over time, RAF patients came to make up about half of their caseload, and the hospital’s role as a general facility diminished.

What happened?
Sunshine Hospital faced a turbulent few years, closing its doors twice, in April 2023 and June 2024, following the RAF’s failure to settle outstanding claims despite several court orders compelling payment.

The RAF, which covers medical expenses for road accident victims, halted payments to the hospital after accusing it of fraud and corruption.

However, in May last year, the High Court in Pretoria ruled in the hospital’s favour, finding that both the RAF and its spokesperson, MacIntosh Pholela, had defamed the facility.

The court determined that Pholela’s comments, made during a televised eNCA interview in March, were false and damaging.
Pholela claimed that Sunshine Hospital was part of a ‘corrupt scheme’ involving unlawful patient transfers, over-servicing, and overcharging.

Also Read: Sunshine Hospital to close its doors