LATE PAYMENTS HARM NATIONAL HEALTH LAB

The Gauteng Department of Finance has indicated that there is a short-fall of millions of rand in payments by the Gauteng Health Department to the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS).

This was revealed by acting Gauteng Finance MEC, Bheki Nkosi, to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

The MEC said "the Department of Health was unable to make regular payments to the NHLS as a result of unavailability of sufficient cash to make all payments to all suppliers".

I pointed out that this was a result of an accrual of invoices that were not paid for in previous years in respect of services that were received at the time. The MEC responded by suggesting that the baseline budget for health services was wrong, but the provincial government has been aware of this for many years and has failed to deal with the problem. The impact of this failure to correctly manage the province's finances is that suppliers have found the only way to get paid is to withhold services.

This was the case with the NHLS. The provincial government is responsible for creating a situation where the public are denied crucial services and suppliers are placed in a situation facing possible closure and retrenchments. More than 75 % of the invoices received by the provincial government are not paid on time. Most suppliers are paid more than 2 months after delivering goods and services. This can be turned around by forcing staff to process documents timeously or else face disciplinary action.

Budgets must be prioritised by eliminating wasteful and useless expenditure and that money freed up for essential services urgently needed by the poor and the most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the NHLS struggles along with a severe staff shortage and a reduced service that compromises health care for state patients.

Statement issued by Mike Moriarty MPL, DA Gauteng spokesperson on finance, May 3 2012

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