Durban — The national portfolio committee on health says it wants the provinces that are badly performing to be monitored and for them to take account.
This is after the auditor-general noted that financial statements for some provinces were concerning as numerous material misstatements were identified and required correction on an annual basis.
The committee had met to consider and adopt the budgetary reviews and recommendations report.
The irregular expenditure is said to have decreased from R9.5 billion in 2021/22 to R7bn in 2022/23.
The main contributors to the irregular expenditure were KwaZulu-Natal (R2.5bn), Gauteng (R2.3bn) and North West (R776 million). The provinces that were flagged by the AG were Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West.
The ANC’s Annah Gela said they would have to monitor the progress on the report in terms of spending, especially on provinces that did not do well.
“We need to call them and make them take into account why the allocation was not spent accordingly,” said Gela.
Michele Clarke, the DA spokesperson on health agreed and said those provinces that had not performed should come to account. Talking to the Daily News she said the DA had asked the chair on several occasions to call underperforming provinces to account.
“But this has not happened,” she said.
The report further stated that the department of health’s five-year strategic goals were to increase life expectancy, improve health, prevent disease, improve health outcomes by responding to the quadruple burden of disease in the country and address social determinants of health through intersectoral collaboration.
Another strategy is to achieve universal health coverage by implementing the National Health Insurance Bill policy (NHI).
“Progressively achieve universal health coverage through NHI. Enhance governance in the health sector for improved quality of care,” read the report.
“The department aimed to focus on the refurbishment, upgrading and building of new hospitals, health centres, clinics and new specialised units including oncology which according to the department has improved over the recent years due to public-private partnerships.”
However, some political parties reserved their rights to adopt the report saying they needed to take it to their caucus for review.
Philip van Staden of the Freedom Front Plus said he would like to go and have a discussion with his caucus.
Clarke also agreed and the DA reserved its right.
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Daily News