Public Protector calls for forensic investigation into Department of Health’s 19-year-old IT contracts
For 28 years, Meditech SA has effectively 'monopolised' all information technology contracts in the KwaZulu-Natal health sector, now the Public Protector has ordered a forensic report into all their contracts since 2001.
A 30-YEAR-OLD tender has embroiled the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health in another scandal.
In a recent report released by the Public Protector, it found that the department flouted a lot of procedures with the several extensions it gave to Meditech SA for a tender it received in 1990.
Meditech SA is an Information Technology software company. In 1990 it won a tender to pilot a Provincial Hospital Information System at Addington Hospital for a period of 60 months.
Since winning that initial tender, the department has renewed several times in ‘closed tender’ deals its contract with Meditech SA in what the public protector described as amounting to “maladministration to improper conduct.”
“Meditech SA has since the award of a single tender in 1988 had over 28 years of uncontested monopoly in the supply of the software and hardware licenses to the department,” reads the report.
After the initial 1988 tender had run out, in 2001 the department made a request to rent a Billing module from Meditech SA to replace non-compliant software in 10 hospitals. The department contended that this request was linked to the original tender.
Between 2004 and 2015, the department would make several similar requests to Meditech SA without putting the invitation to public tender for competition.
In 2015, then Head of Department at KZN Health Dr Sifiso Mtshali wrote a letter to Dr Jacob Poo, who was the Corporate Account Executive and Healthcare Advisor at Meditech SA asking for a proposal request for upgrades and provision of latest Meditech SA software.
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The following year, the department granted Meditech SA a tender contract of over R55 million for three years.
A status report on the programme in August 2017 highlighted a number of problems including poor bandwidth, shortage of network points. To fix this would require an additional R12 m once-off payment.
Dr Poo was also employed by the Gauteng Department of Health from 2003 till he resigned in 2008 and got rehired again in the same year as a sessional doctor.
Poo was employed by Meditech since March 2009 (becoming director in 2012) and resigned in November 2018.
The Public Protector found clear conflict of interests in Poo’s conduct as it is a contravention of Public Service Regulations for a government employee to conduct business with the government. In her remedial actions, the public protector directed the National Prosecuting Authority to assess if Dr Poo’s actions amounted to acts of criminal conduct
The public protector has also directed the MEC for Health, Sinegugu Simelane, to order a forensic report into all contracts the department had with Meditech SA since 2001.
Last week, the Democratic Alliance opened formal charges at the Durban Central Police Station for all people implicated in the Purblic Protector’s report.
The MEC has 30 days to implement the Public Protector’s binding remedial actions.
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