Pretoria - Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo says the department is finalising the process of establishing a Health Processing Centre to help eliminate the challenges of supplier payments.
Tabling the department’s R28.4 billion budget for 2013/14 at the legislature, Papo said this will ensure better budget management and that resources are allocated efficiently.
It will also help the department in its quest to eradicate wastage and ensure that it complies with the injunction to pay suppliers within 30 days.
Papo said as of 31 January 2013, the department had settled accruals to the value of R4.2 billion. These included commitments of the previous financial year, which would have become payable in 2012/13.
“The department has settled approximately 99% of the total accruals that were owed. In this regard, we have been having weekly payment runs since November 2012,” he said.
He said the department was continuing to review contracts for cost effectiveness against market prices, and this included those of the Medical Supply Depot.
Improving efficiency
Efforts to eradicate corruption have resulted in the dismissal of 33 officials, including two chief directors and a director, who were charged, disciplined and found guilty of fraud related misconduct.
The department, Papo said, was able to collect revenue to the tune of R61.8 million from other government departments and R94 million from medical aid schemes in the 2012/13 financial year.
"We also collected R21.5 million from neighbouring provinces before the National Department of Health established a task team on how referrals from neighbouring or other provinces should be treated,” said Papo.
One hundred ambulances have been purchased by the department, and will be distributed equitably to municipalities to render emergency medical services. Of these ambulances, 20 are fully equipped emergency obstetric ambulances.
Apart from procuring more ambulances within the available budget, Papo said the department would also ensure that it reduced the turnaround time for vehicle repairs and maintenance.
However, Papo raised the department’s concerns about the increased number of litigations for medical negligence against the department, especially against the maternity units.
“Measures such as retraining staff on key protocols for proper patient management are in place to reduce these cases. I will soon appoint a panel to advise the department on litigation cases, management of serious adverse events and strengthen compliance to procedures,” he assured.
In dealing with lawyers who send out peddlers to tout patients and also steal patient files, the department has instructed hospital CEOs to open criminal cases against those who steal government property and lawyers will also be reported to their respective law society.
Turning to quality improvement, Papo reminded his staff that they had a duty to deliver quality health services.
“The majority of citizens have no alternative, they depend on public health services,” he said.
However, he added that Gauteng was facing an increasing public health funding gap and this was influenced by changing demographics and the epidemiological profile of the province.
He also acknowledged staff for their dedication, which has seen the department reporting no over-expenditure in a long time.
"I have confidence in our staff at all levels to continue working very hard and smartly to justify the second biggest budget allocation in Gauteng. We are working hard to obtain an unqualified and/or clean audit in 2014." – SAnews.gov.za
