The Eastern Cape is battling to clear more than R1-billion in health debt accumulating over the years.
Presenting a report to the standing committee on appropriations in parliament on March 22, provincial health superintendent-general Tobile Mbengashe admitted the debt stood at just over R1.4-billion by the end of January.
He said escalating medical negligence claims were causing more headaches for the cash-strapped department.
Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the figure stood at R1.3-billion during the 2015-16 financial year, but the trend was that all they managed to do was to try and clear accruals.
“The department owed its creditors R1.3-billion by March 2016. These have been subsequently paid, however it is likely that this amount will increase for the year ended March 2017 due to the impact of medical legal settlements and the impact of foreign exchange rates on medical inflation.
“The amount owed at the end of March 2017 will only be known at the end of April as the department is still awaiting a supplier statement,” Kupelo added.
National Health Department’s Malebone Matsotso admitted at the same meeting that they were “very underfunded”.
The department received R21.7-billion (29.2%) of the R74.6-billion budget effectively from this month.
Health MEC Phumza Dyantyi, addressing the same committee two weeks ago, said the department had to settle legal claims for negligence valued at R260-million 2016-17 alone, and the amount “had not been budgeted for and therefore came from the service delivery budget”.
Dyantyi said the claims dated back 10 years, and that there was suspected collusion between health officials and lawyers.
Mbengashe said the impact of medical inflation of items such as drugs and medical equipment placed pressure on the department’s budget.
He said general under-funding of health services in the province was “evidenced by the continuous levels of accruals, which at the end of January 2017 amounted to R1.4-billion”.
DA shadow MEC for finance Bobby Stevenson demanded answers from finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo yesterday as to why the health debt had been understated by more than a R1-billion in response to questions he submitted to him last month.
Somyo had said in a written reply that the department owed service providers R149.7-million by the end of January. The entire province, he said, owed its creditors R246.7-million.
Stevenson said the health bill was “going to have catastrophic consequences, not only for the overall financial position of the province but also for the majority of people in the province who are reliant on state-funded healthcare.
“This huge amount owed by the department of health will have a serious knock-on effect for the province, as this money will have to be paid from the new health budget for 2017-18 or sourced from other departments,” he said.