Pretoria - The Gauteng Department of Health says it has developed a detailed action plan to address the Auditor General's findings in its 2011-2012 annual report.
Similar to the previous financial year, the department received a qualified audit opinion based on the departmental revenue, irregular expenditure, leave entitlement and capped leave commitments amongst other things.
Department spokesperson Simon Zwane said that one of the initiatives to ensure that the department received a clean audit in the current financial year was the appointment of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who resumed duties at the beginning of this month.
The department has also stabilised senior management by appointing Babalwa Mgolombane as Head of the Infrastructure Unit, Meisie Lerutla as Chief Director: District Health Services, Thulani Matsebula as Chief Director: Health Economics and Finance, as well as Mojalefa Lekoto as Chief Director: Information Communications Information. They also took up their posts in September.
"The new CFO, Ndoda Biyela, has joined the department from KwaZulu-Natal's Treasury Department where he was General Manager: Public Finance, he has extensive experience having worked in finance units of various government departments and he holds a Master's Degree in Economics, Development Finance and Banking amongst other qualifications.
"He, together with other senior managers, will ensure that there are tighter financial controls, improved contracts management and ensuring that the departments always comply with the Public Finance Management Act," said Zwane.
The appointments are part of the department's turnaround strategy, which was launched last month with an aim to ensure stability to finances and top management.
The plan also aims to ensure that clinics have essential medication, hospitals do not have to contend with malfunctioning equipment as well as proper the allocation of resources.
Zwane noted that the department had seen many positives in the year under review, including the piloting of NHI in the Tshwane District, which saw an increase in the number of visits to primary health care centres, strengthened the complaint response system through the introduction of a toll free complaints line, extension of hours in six clinics and one community health centre, which will assist in curbing long queues and increase accessibility to health.
