Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeSA Provincial HealthEastern Cape Health: R3.8bn in unpaid bills and R37bn in legal claims

Eastern Cape Health: R3.8bn in unpaid bills and R37bn in legal claims

A court order attaching the funds of the Eastern Cape Health Department has left it unable to pay service providers, opposition politicians claiming that the administration faces R3.8bn in unpaid bills and R37bn in medical negligence legal claims.

And, Daily Maverick reports, one of the consequences is that hazardous medical waste is now piling up at health facilities. The department’s bank account was frozen by attorneys enforcing court orders linked to medico-legal claims.

Daily Maverick reports that the department has staggering debts running into billions of rands owed to successful litigants and service providers who have not been paid. Last week, hundreds of buckets and bags containing hazardous medical waste were seen outside Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) after the health department failed to pay the waste company hired to collect it.

The hospital is one of the province’s designated COVID-19 facilities. Its acting CEO, Dr Mthandeki Xamlashe, confirmed that “waste collection was paused as a result of payment issues”. He said this resulted in noticeably higher volumes of medical waste.

Daily Maverick reports that Livingstone Hospital’s permanent management team was suspended in November 2018 after a strike by Nehawu members. Since then, the facility has had seven acting CEOs. Despite promises by former health MEC Sindiswa Gomba that they would headhunt a permanent CEO, this has not happened.

Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo is quoted by Daily Maverick as saying that the funds in the department’s bank account had been attached by attorneys, but that “partial payment” had been made to service providers on Friday, 5 March. “I think waste management was one of the companies that were paid. We are facing constraints due to the fact that lawyers took our money out of the bank,” he said.

The Democratic Alliance’s Retief Odendaal said in the report that attorneys were also attaching EC Health property as there was no money to pay bills. He said that according to the DA’s numbers, the department has unpaid bills of R3.8bn and a total of R37bn in medico-legal claims against it.

“The department of health has already used 10% of their 2021/22 budget,” he said. “They are factually bankrupt and should be put under administration.”

Daily Maverick reports that the province does not budget for medico-legal claims, but instead takes the money from the operational budgets of the facilities where the patients were injured or suffered damages.

In 2019, a task team was established to “create a lasting solution” to the increasing number of claims against the province, and to come up with a strategy to prevent the department’s bank accounts from being attached.

Daily Maverick reports that a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition, Thoko Mtsolongo, said they were deeply concerned about the unresolved issue of medical waste not being collected at Livingstone Hospital. “We raised these issues with then health MEC Sindiswa Gomba and former superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbangashe and were assured that Livingstone Hospital would receive urgent attention from the Eastern Cape Health Department.

“When Dr Sibongile Zungu was appointed to head up the project management unit to manage the Eastern Cape’s response to COVID-19, we were hopeful that the numerous issues at the hospital would be fixed.

“Unfortunately, whatever measures were implemented since Dr Zungu was appointed as acting superintendent-general are insufficient to deal with the historic lack of strong leadership at this hospital and many others across the province.

“It is telling when a medical waste company refuses to continue rendering a service to Livingstone Hospital as a result of long-term debt being owed to them. It speaks of mismanagement not only at provincial level, but at the facility level.”

 

[link url="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-08-toxic-mess-debt-crisis-leads-to-medical-waste-pile-up-at-eastern-cape-hospitals/?"]Full Daily Maverick report (Open access)[/link]

 

 

See also MedicalBrief archives:

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/fraudulent-medico-legal-claims-hobble-eastern-cape-health/"]‘Fraudulent’ medico-legal claims hobble Eastern Cape Health[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-health-outsources-medico-legal-claim-work/"]Eastern Cape Health outsources medico-legal claim work[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-medical-negligence-problem-is-a-runaway-train/"]Eastern Cape medical negligence problem is ‘a runaway train’[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-health-slammed-over-negligence-claims/"]Eastern Cape Health slammed over negligence claims[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/questions-over-eastern-cape-strategy-on-r29bn-in-negligence-claims/"]Questions over Eastern Cape strategy on R29bn in negligence claims[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-health-mec-lambasted-for-slothful-approach-to-litigation/"]Eastern Cape Health MEC lambasted for ‘slothful’ approach to litigation[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-litigation-unit-to-target-r29bn-in-claims/"]Eastern Cape litigation unit to target R29bn in claims[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/ec-health-racks-billions-medico-legal-claims/"]EC Health racks up billions in medico-legal claims[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-health-claims-3x-health-depts-entire-budget/"]Eastern Cape Health claims 3x Health Dept’s entire budget[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-capes-deadly-incompetence-lack-capacity/"]Eastern Cape’s ‘deadly’ incompetence and lack of capacity[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/litigation-brings-eastern-cape-health-brink-collapse/"]Litigation brings Eastern Cape Health to the brink of collapse[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/eastern-cape-health-paid-unbudgeted-r260m-201718-lawsuits/"]Eastern Cape Health paid out unbudgeted R260m in 2017/18 lawsuits[/link]

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.