Despite huge cash injection, Gauteng health still in ICU
Accruals continue to strain budget
The embattled Gauteng health department is “not yet out of the woods” despite being allocated R1.7-billion in the medium-term budget delivered by finance MEC Barbara Creecy yesterday.
Creecy told the legislature that the province would increase its R108.7-billion 2017 budget presented in March by R3.4-billion. About half of that added allocation went towards rescuing its embattled health department.
The department, which has ran out of money, still owes millions of rands to more than 50 major service providers, including the SA National Blood Services and the National Health Laboratory Services.
Creecy said even though by the end of October the province had cleared 1 721 outstanding invoices of under R5-million which amounted to R416-million, problems were still far from over.
“I do not want to pretend we are out of the woods in health ... the question is how do we ensure that managers are aware of their budgets and spend within those budgets,” Creecy told Sowetan.
The health department has often found itself dealing with accruals from previous financial years as its over-stretched budget often runs out midway through a financial year. This year the situation seems more dire with a debt of R5-billion.
Creecy said the R1.7-billion will deal with spending pressures currently faced by the department, with R487-million of it going towards maintenance of hospitals across the province.
“It also means if we are to achieve our priorities before the end of the term, we will have to re-prioritise spending within existing expenditure ceilings,” she said.
Creecy allocated R942.6million to assist with preparations for the opening of schools in January next year.
“This includes R138.5-million to pay school electricity bills, [and] R150-million for teacher salaries due to growth in learner numbers.”
She said that R261.5-million would be spent on scholar transport and school nutrition.
Creecy said the department of education has already registered 200 000 new pupils for the 2018 school year.