The Gauteng Health Department has underspent R2.7bn of its budget in the 2022/2023 financial year, mostly in the infrastructure budget despite the “decrepit state of our public hospitals”.
This is according to DA MPL Jack Bloom, addressing the legislature’s recent health oversight committee meeting.
Even though not a single Gauteng state hospital complies fully with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, posing a safety risk to thousands of staff and patients, a total of R550m was not spent on infrastructure, he said.
“According to the department, the low spending was ‘due to slow construction, progress of projects and contractors abandoning sites’.”
TimesLIVE reports that the R1.6bn underspend in district health services, which includes HIV/Aids treatment and procurement of hospital machinery, was blamed on “delays in supply chain management processes”.
"Though the department has applied for the money to be rolled over into the next financial year, it is likely more than R300m will be returned to the provincial treasury. Last year the department failed to spend R2.6bn, and R1.1bn the year before,” added Bloom.
TimesLIVE article – Gauteng health department underspends despite needs (Open access)
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