By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The Gauteng Department of Health has dismissed claims that it faces a financial and food supply crisis at the province’s public hospitals, following concerns raised by staff at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) in Soweto, Johannesburg.
“The department is not in a financial crisis, and we must state that openly. The one thing we should take note of, is that funding for health is a key priority for the province,” said the department’s chief financial officer Lerato Madyo.
She was speaking on Friday during a media briefing at CHBAH after the department met with the hospital’s management and stakeholders.
The Gauteng Health Department has also revealed that it owes its suppliers R4 billion for services rendered.
The comments come amid reports that patients at the hospital have not been receiving bread for three weeks due to non-payment.
Madyo says service providers will be paid as soon as the money is available.
“As of the end of February, we have a balance of R4 billion that we are owing to service providers and that is the amount that we know that we must pay. As and when the cash is available as and when we adjust the budget, we will make that R4 billion available and ensure that we are paying suppliers on time.”
Hospital CEO Dr Nkele Lesia said although the hospital had not had bread since last month, patients were still provided with “other snacks”.
She said the hospital had other mitigation strategies in place.
Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi reassured patients at CHBAH bread supply shortages at the hospital, due to a failure to pay suppliers on time, had been fully resolved.
“We want to allay the fears to our people that have loved ones admitted at Bara Hospital that we know that there have been issues around bread supply, but that issues been since resolved because the service provider did not supply bread due to non-payment,” Mokgethi said.
Baragwanath Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the continent, has been plagued by various operational issues.
On Thursday, clinical heads held a picket against the cutting of posts and other services that included the removal of waste from the hospital.
This is as the provincial government plans to reduce Covid-19 staff members by 800 because of budgetary constraints that saw the pandemic budget being slashed to R1.1 billion.
However, Madyo maintains that the department is not in a crisis.
“We are not in a crisis mode when it comes to funding. What is allocated to health is adequate for a financial year, of course, there are other needs that we have.But through our budget bids, we make requests to the provincial treasury.”
At this week’s budget, Gauteng Health was allocated a lion’s share of the budget – R59.4 billion.