Free State could exit deal
THE Free State health department is considering an early exit from its public-private partnership (PPP) with Netcare.
This emerged on Wednesday when an official made submissions to the Competition Commission’s health market inquiry.
The Universitas-Pelonomi Hospital public-private partnership in Bloemfontein is one of the few that Netcare has been able to establish in South Africa.
It has two others in the Eastern Cape.
The concession for the UniversitasPPP‚ established in 2002‚ is due to end in 2022.
It was intended to improve the use of government resources and generate income for both parties.
Extra revenue accruing to the Free State health department was to have been used to improve services for public-sector patients.
The department’s private facilities advisory committee chairman, Marcus Molokomme, said it would cost about R400-million to exit the contract early‚ due to penalty fees and legal costs.
He said the Netcare contract had introduced unforeseen complications‚ with the billing arrangements for private-sector patients requiring radiology services‚ to the financial detriment of the department.
Clinicians prioritised private patients who “jumped the queue”‚ and the contract had created “fertile ground” for abuse of the province’s policy for remunerative work outside the public service‚ he told the inquiry.
The policy allows doctors whose salaries are paid by the government to do additional work in the private sector.
Molokomme said the abuse was widespread in the Free State. — BDLive