Gauteng Health owed R196m by government departments

16 October 2019

The Gauteng Health Department is owed R195 582 000 by other government departments.

This is disclosed in the Department’s 2018/19 Annual Report that was recently tabled in the Gauteng Legislature.

The North West Department of Health owes the most money - R63 million in patient fees, up from R56 million last year.

Patient fees owed by other departments are as follows:

Department of Correctional Services

R31 million

Mpumulanga Department of Health  

R27 million

Limpopo Department of Health  

R27 million

National Department of Justice  

R27 million

South African Police Service  

R18 million

S A National Defence Force  

R1 million

Unpaid bills by other provinces is a long-standing problem with repeated failed promises to fix it.

The Department of Correctional Services and SAPS are also perennial delinquent payers for medical treatment.

This large-scale financial mismanagement does not bode well for the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) which will fail if government departments can’t pay their bills in good time.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 16 October 2019