Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health on Friday expressed concern about growing public dissatisfaction with the large amounts of reported irregular and wasteful expenditure by provincial health departments.

Coupled with budget underspending, the committee said it was unacceptable, since provincial departments are facing a huge demand for health services.

The health committee conducted hearings with the eight provincial departments of health on the state of public hospital services. This follows the tabling of the annual inspection report of the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) for the 2016/17 financial year.

Committee chairperson Lindelwa Dunjwa said the OHSC reported that 696 routine inspections were conducted, surpassing the 649 inspections undertaken during the 2015/16 financial year.

The OHSC highlighted its concern over the state of some hospitals and clinics in the country.

Dunjwa stated that the office encouraged the health sector to work on improving conditions at poor-performing facilities and to maintain the ones that are doing well.

She added that it was important to note that the results do not entirely reflect an accurate picture of health establishments, however, the report highlights the serious challenges that the health sector faces.

The committee was concerned about the amounts of medico-legal claims provincial departments are facing and that this hugely affects the current and future budgets of the departments.

The committee was also informed about the struggle provinces faced in filling specialist positions, as they were having difficulties attracting specialist doctors, particularly in rural provinces such as Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and the Eastern and Northern Cape.