Opposition parties in the Gauteng Legislature have attacked the Gauteng Department of Health for allegedly ill-treating community health workers who offer home-based care to patients and some who offer counselling services at clinics.
According to Jack Bloom of the Democratic Alliance, some of the workers have not been paid their monthly stipends, allegedly because of the incompetence of an external service provider.
Payment to workers is administered by a private company, SmartPurse, which was awarded an R87 million tender in May this year, to render this service. “Despite the very high fee paid to SmartPurse, they are not very competent in doing what they are supposed to do. In fact, SmartPurse does not appear to be a smart company – at all,” Bloom said.
He mentioned that the health workers provided a good service to the health system and added that they are a crucial link with the community, especially the elderly and frail. He urged MEC Qedani Mahlangu to ensure they are paid their stipends on time.
Mahlangu has defended SmartPurse. She said the service provider was competent in doing its job. “Those health workers who have not been paid are those who refused to sign contracts with SmartPurse,” she explained. According to Mahlangu, some health workers refused to sign the contract, as the service provider wanted to introduce measures to monitor and supervise attendance of health workers.
Patrick Sindani of the EFF told Mahlangu that appointing an external service provider to administer the payment of health workers was a total waste of money. He said the money paid to SmartPurse should have been used to increase the stipend. “The R2 500 (per month) that these workers receive is ridiculous! They live from hand-to-mouth.”
Sindani added that the department should be paying workers directly and told the MEC to ensure that workers are provided with all the necessary equipment when doing their jobs in clinics and home visits.
Responding to Sindani, Mahlangu said the Gauteng health workers were the best-paid community health workers in the country. She highlighted that all other provinces paid workers below R2 000 monthly. She said her department will relook at the stipends once an announcement is made on where the national minimum wage must be set.
Read: Department called to resolve dispute with community health workers
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