Gauteng health department underspends despite needs

The Gauteng health department has underspent R2.7bn of its budget in the 2022/2023 financial year. 

This was disclosed at a meeting of the Gauteng legislature’s health oversight committee on Friday, said DA MPL Jack Bloom.

“Most of the underspend was in the health infrastructure budget — R550m was not spent despite the decrepit state of our public hospitals. It was stated that not a single Gauteng state hospital complies fully with the Occupational Health and Safety Act — this poses a safety risk to thousands of staff and patients.

“According to the department, the low spending on infrastructure was 'due to slow construction, progress of projects and contractors abandoning sites',” said Bloom. 

He said the R1.6bn underspend in district health services, which includes HIV/Aids treatment and procurement of hospital machinery, is blamed on “delays in supply chain management processes”. 

The underspend would have been higher but was partly offset by overspending in paying medical negligence claims and accruals from the previous year, Bloom said.

“Though the department has applied for the money to be rolled over into the next financial year, it is likely more than R300m will be returned to the provincial treasury.

“It is disgraceful that year after year the department fails to spend its full budget, which is needed to provide quality care to patients. Last year they failed to spend R2.6bn and R1.1bn the year before.”  

A request for comment was sent to the provincial health department. The story will be updated once it is received.

TimesLIVE