For the past two weeks patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital have not received milk because the suppliers have not been paid. It is yet another deplorable example of the payments backlog that is crippling services at Gauteng hospitals.

Patients drink black tea and coffee, and may get powdered milk with their porridge. It's not the hospital's fault as the Gauteng Health Department continually blames "cash flow" problems for the failure to pay suppliers.

According to a written reply by Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature, R173 million was owed to suppliers at the end of last year and there is incomplete paperwork for another R133 million, probably because of inefficiency by the Gauteng Shared Services Centre.

The Medical Supplies Depot is also owed R350 million, so more than R450 million in total is owed to private companies (another R124 million is owed to SA National Blood Services and R516 million to the National Health Laboratory Services).

At a meeting of the Gauteng Legislature's Health Committee earlier this week, the department's chief financial officer Ian van der Merwe said that there were not enough funds to pay all suppliers and that they were working on a plan to pay them over a period of two to three years.

Two weeks ago national Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi had to step in to ensure suppliers of radioisotopes resumed delivery after they stopped because of unpaid accounts.

I expect more companies to suspend supplies because of non-payments. The only way out of this situation is a once-off bail-out from the national treasury, followed by stringent controls on future spending.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, March 4 2011

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