DA calls for urgent SIU probe into KZN hospital CEO’s R700 000 (and counting) overtime bill
30 July 2018
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal has written to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (view here) to call for a full-scale probe into overtime payments to Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at KwaZulu-Natal hospitals following the shock discovery that Ngwelezana Hospital CEO, Dr Bright Madlala has been paid more than R700 000 for overtime at Queen Nandi hospital since January 2017.
The information, which forms the basis of a parliamentary reply (view here) by KZN Health MEC, Sibongiseni Dhlomo to questions posed by the DA.
The overtime payment is in addition to his annual gross salary which exceeds R1.5 million per annum. Dr Madlala has also been paid in excess of R46 000 per month in overtime since August last year. This despite conducting only two overtime calls in May 2018 according to a DA source. Staff have also claimed that he does not always conduct calls in Casualty and often sees patients from his home. Meanwhile, a further reply to the DA (view here) also shows that the CEO at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg is currently earning in the region of R30 000 per month just for overtime over and above a R1 289m salary per annum.
The DA is extremely concerned by these findings. They come at a time when KZN’s Department of Health (DoH) is experiencing a financial meltdown that has severely hindered the employment of doctors, the purchase of critical medical equipment and the ability to adequately repair dilapidated infrastructure.