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Yesterday, the ANC members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on health set the National Department of Health (NDoH) up for failure when they refused to add reasonable recommendations from the DA and other opposition parties regarding the Department’s Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR).

These recommendations are made with the intention of assisting the Department in reaching its 2022/23 targets and to ensure comprehensive and precise oversight.

The DA suggested that the following reasonable recommendations be added to the report:

• The provincial Departments of Health must present their turn-around strategies and produce reports on how they’re addressing the findings of the Auditor-General (AG);
• NDoH must produce a report on the disciplinary measures taken against offending officials in terms of fraud and corruption;
• NDoH must produce a report regarding outstanding infrastructure contracts, the value of these contracts and how many of these projects have been cancelled due to the Department’s project management challenges;
• A report regarding the Department’s discussions with Eskom and the exemption of health facilities must be submitted;
• A report must be submitted on how many hospitals have upgraded to electronic record-keeping systems;
• A detailed plan and timeframe should be submitted regarding the accelerated reopening of nursing colleges;
• A quarterly report on surgery backlogs;
• Provide the committee with a detailed plan and timeframe regarding the medico-legal case management system and ensure that a workshop on medico-legal claims are held;
• In addition to the list of prioritised facilities, the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) must provide inspection reports so that effective oversight can be done at certified clinics and hospitals before the National Health Insurance (NHI) can be considered;
• The Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, should discuss the OHSC and Health Ombud’s budgetary constraints with National Treasury to ensure they achieve their constitutional mandates;
• The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) must publish a Prescribed Minimum Benefits list to ensure clarity for the health sector;
• CMS must also provide a list of medical aids that have gone bankrupt, the reasons for the bankruptcy and the measures in place to avoid other medical aids following suit; and
• The Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, must present a NHI financial feasibility study linked to a social impact study.

The Department of Health has a dismal track record. With the exception of the Western Cape, the health sector is struggling to cope with its myriad of infrastructure, equipment and staff shortage problems. In his reports, the Auditor-General (AG) said, “there seem to be no accountability in the department regarding consequence management … there were no investigations on several instances of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as financial misconduct. This was also reported in the prior year.”

The DA’s recommendations would have assisted the Department with both project and consequence management, which would have been to the benefit of all South Africans. It seems the ANC is more interested in keeping the status quo despite the obvious and repeatedly highlighted issues, than truly assisting the Department in course correction.

Issued by Michele Clarke MP - DA Shadow Minister of Health