by Alan Fuchs MPL – DA Gauteng Member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA)
The MEC for Finance, Lebogang Maile, recently warned that unless the Gauteng Department of Health manages to control its rampant administrative and financial mismanagement, wastage, ill-discipline, and lack of accountability, that it would bankrupt the Gauteng province.
The Gauteng Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has expressed concern after evaluating the performance of the Health Department via its Annual Report. The findings of the Auditor-General (AG) indicate that the department fails to adhere to the legal and policy prescripts across all functions including accounting, procurement, revenue, expenditure, assets, consequence management and internal control.
The mismanagement and lack of financial and performance oversight has a direct impact on the quality of health care. Examples include the fact that the department did not spend the available budget on treatment for cancer patients, thus increasing the risks to these patients. Another example is the abandonment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital after spending R500 million to refurbish it. This travesty has forced potential users of the services to visit alternative public health providers, thus increasing the pressure on these facilities, which in turn results in poorer service.
The result of this lack of expertise and ill-discipline is, for example, a material loss of R2,7 billion because the department was not able to collect revenue owed to it, payables of R4,3 billion exceeding the 30-day payment terms and underspending of the National Tertiary grant by R589 million. Other lapses included procurement of an IT system without inviting competitive bids which resulted in a financial loss of R148,9 million, the building of two hospitals for R875,3 million which were not used for their intended purpose and rampant procurement corruption at hospitals.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) indicates that despite being required to do so, there are members of the senior management team who have not disclosed their business and asset interests. There are those who do business with the State and perform remunerative work outside of their employment with the Health Department, when they are prohibited from doing so. There are 10 officials who have been on suspension for more than a year, the longest being two years and five months.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi must take immediate and decisive action to prevent further financial and operational collapse within the department. Instead, he criticises the opposition for what he calls an “obsession” with the poor performance of the Health Department. The DA would start the clean-up of the department by employing competent and experienced professionals to lead and manage our hospitals. We would give these leaders the flexibility to make their own decisions and measure them according to performance. We would ensure a functioning ICT environment with a patient management system at its core as well as a cost management system to determine where money is being wasted. In addition, better oversight and business processes need to be applied to the procurement environment to curb the frenzy of corruption currently taking place.