Johannesburg - Some suppliers to the Gauteng Health and Social Development Department have breathed a sigh of relief after receiving payments for service rendered following delays as the department grappled with financial challenges.
"We have paid out some R600 million to service providers in the past week or so," departmental spokesperson, Simon Zwane confirmed on Wednesday.
Last week, the Gauteng Provincial Government welcomed interventions announced by the Cabinet to help nurse the struggling department back to good financial health.
This follows the announcement of support to the ailing department by Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe in his Medium Term Budget last month. The MEC announced a payment plan which has now been supported by the national Cabinet in its statement on interventions in some provinces.
The money is a cash injection from the provincial Treasury and reprioritisation processes within the department, reports the Gauteng Provincial Government.
However, Zwane was quick to add that the interventions were by no means an indication that the healthcare system in the province was not functional.
"Some media has been inaccurately reporting that we are under administration - despite repeated messages contrary to that.
"The department has not been placed under administration, and the national government has acknowledged the interventions already undertaken by province, including the allocation of additional funds during the 2011-12 adjustment budget to clear accruals that have accumulated from previous financial years; reprioritisation of funds from the personnel budget towards payments for the required goods and services within the department and reprioritisation of funds from other provincial departments to the Department of Health to ensure payment of required goods and services over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)," he explained.
The department has also concluded the processes of appointing two Heads of Department.as announced in MEC Ntombi Mekgwe's budget speech earlier this year.
"We now have a Head of Department for each. Shoki Tshabalala is now heading the Social Development department while Dr Nomonde Xundu is in charge of Health," he stated.
Zwane stressed that the payments to service providers showed that the province was serious about its commitment to pay service providers.
"We are fulfilling our commitments to pay those who supplied services to us. We are cognisant of the important role that service providers play in creating jobs and growing our economy," he said.
However, Zwane urged residents to ease the pressure on public hospitals by first visiting their primary healthcare centres such as clinics, before going to hospitals.
That mentality - whether we are facing financial challenges or not - should be how communities approach healthcare in the province, he said.
