The Kwa-Zulu Natal Treasury wants KZN Health to conduct a headcount of its staff complement and an accounting of their daily duties. According to an IoL report, this follows publicised concerns about staff shortages and the performance of the department.
MEC for Finance Belinda Scott issued the directive when her department briefed members of the finance portfolio committee on the state of departments in the province during their mid-year expenditure review. The review looks at the spending patterns of departments, which of them are likely to underspend or overspend on their budgets. It gives an indication of where corrective measures need to be taken.
The report says the Department of Health is highlighted as challenged and in the past has faced serious challenges with over expenditure. The mid-term review showed that the department is projected to overspend by R398m – this year was however an improvement compared with R818m projected at the end of August this year.
Some of the Health Department’s issues include cancer machines that do not work and hospitals which suffered damages in a massive storm last month.
Scott said the department was unlikely to have staff shortages and she believed the opposite was more accurate. “The provincial Department of Health has more than the national average (in terms of staff complement). We want a human resource audit at the department because there is no shortage; we need to find out what those people are doing there,” said Scott.
The chair of the finance portfolio committee, Sipho Nkosi, said they supported the proposal. He said a similar exercise had been taken with the Department of Education which had given a clearer indication of how many staff members are employed by the department.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/oversight-committee-wants-health-department-audit-11998401"]Full IoL report[/link]