Over-contracting several suppliers and non-payment by the Department of Health (DoH) are causing chaos in Gauteng’s hospitals, the long-standing cash flow problems and backlog of payments to suppliers stalling delivery of essential goods – more recently, food.
The department owes R4bn to 42 000 service providers, but says the non-payment issue “cannot be resolved easily because of the non-compliance of suppliers, some of which do not provide supporting documents along with invoices”.
Writing for Health-e News, Hannah Zhihan Jiang reports that the DoH does not pre-pay the items but asks suppliers to submit invoices after delivery, which the DoH is legally required to pay in 30 days.
The food crisis at Chris Hani Baragwanath, as reported in MedicalBrief last week, is one such victim of the inadequacies and inefficiencies of the department, with the hospital battling to feed patients and having to borrow food from other hospitals.
Bafana Tshabalala, a registered nurse at the emergency unit, said that on the worst day only 15 breakfasts were available for 40 patients.
“We had to pick and choose who to feed – we chose based on who has been here the longest, meaning they are definitely hungry,” said Tshabalala, who is also the Gauteng spokesperson for the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union.
Daily Maverick reported last week that contracted food supplying companies are refusing to deliver to CHBAH due to non-payment by Gauteng Health. One source said the hosptial had been struggling with dry groceries since January.
The department said the issue related to over-contracting a small number of suppliers and the lack of cold storage capacity to order and store in bulk.
However, Tshabalala believes the root cause of the chaos is the department giving huge contracts to suppliers that received benefits or who are politically close.
A chronic issue
Food shortages are always a problem at Bara near the end of the financial year (end of February). In March 2022, the situation was so critical nurses pooled money to buy patients’ breakfast. Tshabalala says this year is still better than last year.
“Last year we hit a point where we had absolutely no meals. We are worried we are headed to a situation where again there won’t be any food, and we will have to raise money ourselves.”
MEC for Health & Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko had said last week that “no patient went a day without receiving meals”, but Tshabalala said this was because families were asked to provide food for the patient.
In addition to a reduction in quantity, patients are having less diverse meals, with breakfasts now comprising just bread and milk, while there should be bread, milk, tea, coffee and cereal.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Bara borrows food to address critical shortages
Doctors feed patients at Bara as supplies run out and medical waste piles up
‘Alarming’ shortages at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital – Health MEC