The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) says it is strengthening measures to further secure payroll controls and improve consequence management to ensure that public funds are “protected and used responsibly to support the delivery of healthcare service”.
The department said it would be tightening measures including:
• Tightening labour relations processes.
• Strengthening leave and incapacity management.
• Implementing employee verification interventions and
• strengthening human resource management functions to improve oversight.
“Currently, the department has four officials on precautionary suspension with pay. The suspensions relate to matters involving alleged misconduct, procurement irregularities, fraud and corruption investigations, as well as measures aimed at preventing possible interference with witnesses and ongoing investigations.
“The department is equally concerned about employees being paid while not rendering services and remains committed to expediting these matters without compromising investigations or disciplinary processes.
“To address delays in some of these matters, the department is working with relevant authorities, particularly where cases involve complex specialised investigations and legal processes initiated by affected the employees,” the GDoH said on Friday.
Interventions to strengthen payroll integrity and prevent irregular payments include the Ziveze Campaign which is an employee verification initiative aimed at confirming that employees on the payroll are legitimate, “accounted for and actively contributing to healthcare service delivery”.
“Through this intervention, the department identified employees who were in the system and being paid but were not known to Human Resources at institutional level. Action has since been taken to terminate irregular payments and remove affected individuals from the system.
“Healthcare institutions have also been sensitised to properly implement leave management and incapacity processes, including the Policy and Procedure on Incapacity Leave and III-Health Retirement, to ensure that no employee is paid irregularly while not rendering services,” the department explained.
Furthermore, work is underway to automate aspects of HR Management to “strengthen oversight, improve data accuracy and reduce system vulnerabilities.”
“These interventions form part of the Department's broader strategy to strengthen financial management, ethical governance and the protection of public resources in support of improved healthcare service delivery,” the GDoH noted. – SAnews.gov.za
