Not even a budget of R12 billion could save the collapsed NW Department of Health

29 October 2019

Honourable Speaker, the current dire state of public healthcare in our province compels us to pause and ask ourselves whether the ANC-led Government is serious about the health and wellbeing of the people.

When we consider the shortage of medical equipment and supplies, shockingly slow response rate of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the overall skills scarcities, we should be asking ourselves whether the Health Department is capable of preventing avoidable fatalities.

A Department with a budget of close to R12 billion should most certainly be paying far better attention to the mandate they are charged with.

A Department with such a massive budget and carrying the weight of such an important task, should be far more responsible and responsive in how it carries out their duties, spending every cent with quality healthcare in mind.

Speaker, it is common knowledge that this Department’s track record hardly speaks of excellence. It is outrageous that they have not only failed to achieve a clean audit for the last 3 years, but has been described as stagnant by the Auditor-General.

I would like to pause here to congratulate the DA-led provincial government in the Western Cape, which has through pure determination and dedication to improve the health of people in that province, managed to obtain a completely clean audit outcome. The only provincial department in South Africa to do so. This is the DA difference in public healthcare.

It is therefore a shame that, in 2018, in a desperate attempt to address the apparent health crisis, Cabinet approved the invoking of Section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution.

Despite this intervention, little progress has been made in improving the overall management of the Department, as well as speeding up the delivery of quality healthcare services to the people.

The national intervention has been a great smoke screen, or rather a wonderful PR exercise, yielding absolutely no positive benefits to the residents of the North West Province. This undesired result makes us wonder what on earth the intervention by the Administrator managed to achieve?

The audit outcome reflects:

Stagnation.

Non-compliance with legislation.

Repeat findings.

Failure to pay suppliers within 30 days.

Unchanged vacancy rate.

Key vacancies within the finance department supply chain management and monitoring and evaluation units – vacant for more than a year.

The Department incurred R22 million in unauthorised expenditure, R12 million in irregular expenditure and close to R8 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure with penalties and interest on outstanding accounts.

Speaker, what does this mean for patients seeking medical attention in public hospitals and clinics in North West? How does this affect the patients who desperately rely on the Department of Health daily? The Department, by not getting the basics right, has once again demonstrated to the residents of the North West Province that they are not a priority.

A few weeks ago, a patient, in need of medical care was transported to a provincial hospital by ambulance.  The patient arrived just after 7 that evening, yet she was only seen by a doctor 2 and a half hours later.  Clearly, not a priority.

The patient was discharged at half past eleven that night.  This patient was left in a casualty department until 9 the next morning. No food, no water. Not a priority.

Even the appointment of an Administrator to this Department has shown that improving the delivery of healthcare to North West residents is not a priority.

While we tip our hats at the MEC for stepping up and trying, it is not enough. Patients are turned away from clinics daily without much needed medication. As the MEC has attempted to address the shortage of medication in our clinics and hospitals, we must understand that, without the much needed medication, the ongoing investigations, task teams and commissions mean nothing to diabetic patients in need of Metformin, or to the cardiac patients who have been without medications such as aspirin and atenolol for months. Again, they are not a priority.

The appointment of an Administrator has NOT achieved the objectives of restoring trust and confidence between labour and government; it couldn’t because posts remain vacant.

It has not assisted the province to upgrade its systems and capabilities to a new normality. Another damning finding by the Auditor-General shows that compliance with the legislative and regulatory framework of government has not improved.

Honourable Speaker, the Department has not restored sustainable service delivery, leaving us with an endless list of patients who have not received their chronic medication for months.  This confirms that service delivery has not improved, but has in fact worsened.

One can only wonder, how it is that this Department has paid so little attention to the repairs and maintenance of buildings and equipment. Also, not a priority.

Two months ago, the DA reported that national and provincial governments owed businesses a combined R7.1 billion in unpaid invoices older than 30 days at the end of March 2019.

Against the backdrop of this Department’s endless woes, we are even more convinced that the ANC’s rushed attempt to implement the National Health Insurance (NHI) without addressing the underlying challenges in the primary healthcare system, such as erratic medicine supply, will only worsen the quality of service delivery in the public healthcare system.

Issued by Gavin Edwards, DA North West Spokesperson on Health and Social Development, 29 October 2019