The Gauteng Health Budget has grown enormously, from R9.2 billion in 2005, to R21 billion in 2010, and now R34.175 billion.
This is from a speech by Democratic Alliances (DA) Gauteng Health Shadow MEC Jack Bloom, in the Gauteng Health budget debate today.
Bloom said, “It has more than tripled in ten years, and could be adequate to provide a reasonable health system, but it is spent inefficiently and ineffectively.
“This will only be rectified with proper management and a computerised health information system that gives accurate costs.
“Last year’s budget failed to spent R495 million, a large amount that could have made a material difference.
“In the key area of capital spending, the department cannot spend what it gets, and has voluntarily asked National Treasury only for that which it has properly planned for.
“This is why the Hospital Revitalisation Grant has gone down from R671 million last year to R313 million this year.
“The Health Facility and Management budget has also gone down from R1.8 billion to R1.45 billion.”
Bloom said this means that “we are missing out on about R600 million in capital spending because the department does not have the capacity to spend it.”
“An investigation is needed in Emergency Management Services (EMS), which failed to spend R166 million of its budget last year, but there are shortages of ambulances and constant breakdowns.
“The amazing thing is that the three metros all claim to respond to about 79% of priority 1 emergency calls in 15 minutes, which is a world class standard.
“This is not the experience of members of the public who often complain about slow ambulances.
“The Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi needs to get to the bottom of the false response times that we are being fed.
“Our emergency ambulance service is very poor, and we need to acknowledge this and fix it.
“Sick people are vulnerable people, and they deserve better from this department.
“One of the small green shoots in the desert is the appointment of Dr Barney Selebano as Head of Department,” Bloom said.
He said he hopes the new head of department uses his private sector experience to run the department more efficiently and also to partner in creative ways with the private health sector.
“I welcome the premier’s announcement that the department will shortly be taken out of administration as financial management has improved.
“There is still a long way to go. We will know that the department has finally turned the corner when it gets a clean audit with no qualifications,” said Bloom.
