Ramaphosa launches forum to clean up health sector
INDICTING the “stench of corruption” pervasive in the health sector, President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a forum against it – and to safeguard the country’s envisaged multibillion-rand National Health Insurance fund.
He said that signing the terms of agreement of the Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum, and the Health Market Inquiry Report released on Monday, were concrete ways of reducing wastage and collusion, and ending uncompetitive behaviour in the market.
South Africans could not continue to rank low in global rankings on health care because of inefficient resource management, poor institutional accountability, ineffective monitoring and evaluation, and corruption, he said.
In pre-election interactions with citizens, it pained him to hear how this most fundamental of rights had been affected by corruption.
“In some parts of the country, citizens are forced to make payments to get access to medical treatment, either at above the official rate, or for services that are meant to be free,” Ramaphosa said.
“In other places, our parents and grandparents are being turned away because doctors and nurses are moonlighting elsewhere during work hours.”
In other cases, state property in hospitals and clinics, including vehicles and equipment, was being stolen, hired out or resold.
“This isn’t a problem confined to the public sector. Suppliers and service providers are involved in false invoicing, collusion and price fixing, especially on medicines,” he said.
He added that when there was corruption in the health-care system, all South Africans suffered.
“Corruption in the health system is not a victimless crime. It targets the poorest and most vulnerable in our society,” he said.
This forum emerged from the Presidential Health Summit last year, which met to identify challenges in the sector and to agree on practical solutions to address weaknesses.
One of the key recommendations was to address supply chain management of medicines, medical products, equipment and machinery.
This area was considered vulnerable to corruption because of the large volume of goods and services involved.
“These include fraudulent orders, tender irregularities, fiscal dumping through NGOs, bribery, over-pricing, poor governance, transfer of liabilities to the state, and fraudulent qualifications,” Ramaphosa said.
The summit identified corruption at all levels, coupled with lack of consequence management and an inadequate response from the criminal justice system.
“Political interference in the tendering system was also found to contribute to corruption,” he noted.
The Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum brought together several departments, government agencies, professional bodies and civil society groups to co-ordinate a national response to this corruption.
Turning to the government’s proposed National Health Insurance plan, he said it was about spending money more efficiently and effectively, and reducing wastage and excess. Most importantly, it was about ensuring that people lived better lives, and that they were healthier for longer.
“But we cannot achieve these objectives for as long as corruption remains pervasive across the health sector.”