The Eastern Cape Health Department is bankrupt and needs national intervention, says Daygan Eagar, Health Researcher at the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
The Eastern Cape Health Department is bankrupt and needs national intervention, says Daygan Eagar, Health Researcher at the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
"[The PSAM] is dismayed, but not surprised, at reports that the Eastern Cape Department of Health has run up debt of R1.8 billion and will not be able to pay suppliers or occupational specific dispensation (OSD) commitments to staff for the remainder of the financial year," says Eagar in a statement issued on 4 February.
"For the past two years the PSAM has stressed that if the Department (both at provincial and national level) did not address flaws in the OSD model it ran the risk of overspending on its budget. Yet, despite being forewarned, the Department has seemingly done little to prevent the crisis."
"The PSAM is especially concerned at the impact that this financial bungling may have on other critical aspects of public health, such as the crumbling Emergency Medical Services and security at medical facilities," the statement continues.
“We can’t say what the impact will be on health services in Grahamstown as such, but the department has already suspended payments to suppliers and contractors and it is obviously of concern. Small contractors,
like security contractors at hospitals, have already been affected and are withdrawing their services,” said Derek Luyt, Head of Media and Advocacy at the PSAM.
Bongiwe Moyake of Settler’s Hospital expressed her surprise that the Eastern Cape Health Department is bankrupt. “As long as we have not heard about anything, there won’t be any consequences for us as yet,” she said.
In response to the latest fiasco, departmental spokesperson Sizwe Kupel said: “We will not tolerate maladministration; any person found guilty, no matter who it is, will be dealt with. We take corruption seriously.”
"The PSAM finds this hard to believe. The department’s track record of disciplinary action in cases of financial mismanagement is pathetic," Eagar’s statement continues.
"In 2008 the PSAM called on national government to intervene in terms of section 100 of the Constitution to ensure that the Eastern Cape Department of Health delivers adequate public health services to the people of the province. We received no response from national government. The PSAM then lodged a complaint, in June 2008, with the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate our complaints against the Department. We are still awaiting the outcome of this investigation."
"In view of this latest demonstration of the inability of the Department to manage its affairs adequately, we again call on national government to intervene in terms of section 100 of the Constitution. We cannot allow the health services to the already impoverished majority of this province to continue to be compromised," concluded Eagar’s statement.
