At least 60% of Gauteng’s doctors, nurses and other medical workers face suspension for not disclosing their financial interests under Health Department policies meant to guard against conflicts of interest.
Spokesperson Motaletale Modiba told News24 that out of the 14 116 health officials in the department meant to file disclosures, only 5 380 (38.11%) adhered to the call of the Public Service Commissioner.
This means that 8 736 – or nearly two-thirds of employees – did not comply.
In addition, only 309 out of 331 staff at the department’s central head office disclosed their financial information before the financial disclosure system for all categories, except senior management service level, closed on 31 July 2023.
The department is now threatening to issue suspensions after subjecting some of the staff to disciplinary hearings.
Disclosures essential
In the case of management and those working in the supply chain management sector of the Health Department, the disclosures are meant to eliminate conflicts of interest in terms of tenders and other business interests.
“The lack of compliance with financial disclosure might result in employees conducting business with the state without being detected, resulting in conflict of interest and increased unethical behaviour and misconduct,” Modiba said.
For doctors and nurses, the disclosures are meant to prevent staff from moonlighting in the private sector or holding other jobs besides their government employment without proper permission.
Healthcare workers are only allowed to work in their private practices or take on private sector jobs once approval for remunerative work outside the Public Service (RWOPS) has been obtained.
Threats to suspend non-compliant staff
An email sent to Health Department employees informed those who failed to submit these disclosures for the past financial year that they were expected to attend a meeting at the MEC’s office last week to personally explain why they hadn’t done so.
It is unclear whether anyone reported for the meeting, but at least one hospital instructed its employees not to attend, as this would have meant several departments would have had to shut down for the day.
These employees were asked to sign declarations saying they understood the directive to disclose such information, after their delay in submitting this information.
Modiba said that “continuous non-compliance is a serious challenge and has been since the inception of the financial disclosure of other categories of staff in the 2016/17 financial year”.
CEOs of hospitals are instructed by the HoD annually to take disciplinary steps, and every year, only a few CEOs comply by issuing written warnings, he added.
“During the 2021/22 financial year, only 12 CEOs adhered to this instruction. The department cannot just issue warning letters without further consequences.”
Disruption to health services
One West Rand hospital might be completely crippled by the department's threatened action, since entire departments failed to disclose their interests.
Doctors at the hospital said their entire orthopaedic and gynaecology departments had failed to submit their disclosures.
They cited the “excessively personal nature” of some of the questions as their reasons for doing so, saying they were “an invasion of their privacy”.
Two others said when they tried to submit their declarations, they were prohibited multiple times by a technical glitch, as they were previously employed in another province and the system refused to accept their details.
All of these workers now face disciplinary action, and possible suspensions, which they say could be as long as three months without salaries.
Modiba said: “It is misleading to use the issue of service disruption to not want to comply with the law. Notices were given long ago for designated categories of employees to comply.”
He added that a call made on 2 October for employees who did not comply with the requirement to disclose their private financial information by 3 October was actually more of an extended grace period. All employees will be given an additional two weeks to comply before facing consequences.
“No category of employees will be an exception. The disclosure is aimed at ensuring that the interests of employees do not end up causing conflict of interest and hindering their ability to render services for which they are employed. Failure to declare interests bears serious consequences for all eligible employees, irrespective of the area of work.”
SAMA concerned
Meanwhile, the SA Medical Association (SAMA) has expressed grave concern over the protection of financial information.
Spokesperson Nomonde Sussman said: “(SAMA) is not against the disclosure itself and does not dispute the legality thereof. In general, members are compliant. The association is, however, concerned about the security and protection of the supplied personal and financial information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Moonlighting drains specialist care at state hospitals
KZN hospital CEO's lucrative moonlighting
Moonlighting medics earning millions from the UK's NHS
‘Corruption mafia’ claimed to be manipulating hospital tenders
Call on UK doctors to declare financial interests