Pro Sano medical scheme has been placed under permanent curatorship by the Cape High Court following alleged financial irregularities amounting to millions of rands.

The scheme was placed under temporary curatorship in March but on Monday, Judge James Yekiso granted the final curatorship order after the interim curator, Joe Seoloane, submitted his preliminary assessments and findings to the court. According to the report, Pro Sano’s reserves of R314m could be depleted within three years if current losses continued. Seoloane said the scheme spent over R17 million on advertising and marketing campaigns in just over three years, with no net gain in membership.

The whole R17m was channeled through one service provider, he added. "Continued expenditure of this magnitude on a single service provider over the relevant period, in the absence of tangible results, would appear prima facie to have been reckless usage of member funds," Seoloane noted.

He said there had in fact been a constant shrinkage in membership over the past five years, from 45 361 to 34 585.

Seoloane said he agreed with an earlier report by PricewaterhouseCoopers that the board was virtually dysfunctional, and did not act in the best interests of scheme members. He has been tasked with sorting out Pro Sano’s affairs, paving the way for election of a new board. According to SAPA, the Registrar of Medical Schemes, Patrick Masobe has assured members of the scheme that there was no cause for concern.

"The scheme has the funds to meet all its obligations, and I have every confidence that members’ interests will be paramount under the management of the curator," he said.