More than 42 000 suppliers for the Gauteng Department of Health are owed R 3.1 billion.
This was was disclosed during a meeting of the Gauteng Legislature Finance Committee where it emerged that the supplier had not been paid within the legally required 30 days.
Last week The Star reported that the third biggest hospital in the world was running out of food such as fish, chicken and other meat, with bread being unavailable for two weeks.
DA spokesperson Jack Bloom said he blamed this on the non-payment of contractors.
Kwara Kekana told The Star that the hospital had no problem with food shortage. She said there were issues with the supply of bread and that waste removal services had resumed after a temporary disruption.
According to the committee, Tembisa Hospital owes the most at just over R330 million to over 1500 suppliers.
Bloom highlighted that the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital owes R234m to 2908 suppliers, followed by the Far East Rand Hospital owing R230m to 1795 suppliers.
“Recent problems of food supply at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital can be traced to the R226m that the hospital owes to 2477 suppliers,” said Bloom.
Other hospitals with large arrears include payments to George Mukhari which owes R113m to 2320 suppliers, Steve Biko owes R95m to 754 suppliers, Thelle Mogoerane owes R86m to 1696 suppliers while the Helen Joseph Hospital owes R70m to 2093 suppliers and the Kalafong Hospital owes R69.6m to 591 suppliers and the Sebokeng owes R67m to 860 suppliers and the Tambo Memorial owes R55m to 1573 suppliers.
“It is unacceptable that so many suppliers have not been paid and many of them have stopped services, including Buhle Waste, which is why smelly medical waste is building up at Gauteng hospitals,” said Bloom.
The late payments, according to Bloom, are particularly harsh on small companies who sometimes go under because they run out of cash, and staff and patients suffer when services are cut.
He said that the Department typically runs out of money towards the end of the financial year, so the R3.1bn arrears will be cut into the 2022/23 Health Budget of R59.4bn which starts on 1 April and has not been increased from the previous year.
A financial bail-out will be necessary to clear the arrears, but this should be with strict conditions to fix the poor financial management that plagues this department which is mired in corruption scandals.
The Star