Gauteng Health is to implement several reforms in a bid to slash the province's medico-legal claims, including holding hospital CEOs accountable.
This was said by MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko whose department is facing claims of R20.8bn as of the end of March, the MEC said on Thursday when delivering the budget vote in the legislature.
She added that the work of verifying the cases would continue under a legal intervention strategy, “which will include ensuring we have a dedicated unit that will work day and night to bring these down”.
Further, she said “we will also undertake reforms when employing hospital CEOs to ensure their contracts include the reduction of medico-legal claims as a key performance”.
Strengthening governance
Nkomo-Ralehoko said the department was working hard to strengthen governance systems internally and ensure greater accountability on how limited state resources were used, reports News24.
“We have subjected almost 1 600 senior managers and officials in supply chain management (SCM) and human resources (HR) to a vetting process. Our 106 senior services employees have now submitted their documents for processing by the State Security Agency.”
Another 1 487 SCM and HR employees had also submitted completed forms to the SSA.
The provincial Health Department had also implemented the rapid work cycle programme for institutions to improve turnaround times on financial system-clearing.
“A total of 56 875 of 137 724 invoices without disputes were paid within 30 days, an increase of 13.8% from 27.2 % during the 2021/22 financial year to 41% during the 2022/23 financial year. Invoices without disputes paid within 30 days increased from 32 936 in 2021/22 to 56 875 in the 2022/23 financial year,” the MEC said.
The department’s budget allocation for the 2023/24 financial year was R60bn and it had been allocated conditional grant funding amounting to R13.8bn, which was used, among other things, to provide tertiary services, HIV/Aids programmes and for the training of health professionals.
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