Shock results of hospital audit
2006-11-23 09:49
Johannesburg - A spanking new hospital without laundry facilities and 884 000 condoms that had to be thrown away because they lay exposed in sun and rain.
These were two of the problems that came to light during an audit of Limpopo department of health.
And as if it wasn't bad enough that Dilokong hospital in Sekhukhuneland did not have laundering facilities, the linen that was washed at another venue was conveyed to and fro on an open lorry, on a dirt road.
The qualified audit report came up for discussion when the Democratic Alliance (DA) quoted from it as part of their monitoring of provincial health departments.
Tree in the basketball court
The useless condoms were found during a visit to the emergency medical services in Polokwane.
The expiry date of the condoms was 2009.
At the new Nkhensani hospital, which should have been completed in March this year, only the recreation facilities were ready on time.
Not without problems though - a marula tree had started growing in the basketball court.
The auditors also found discarded medical refuse that had been dumped at several places in the province, either lying around or unsafely stored. This presented a serious health danger to the public.
Financial records were in a bad state.
The list of debtors was described as very unreliable, and there was no indication of R48 000 losses.
In addition, repayments by debtors were not reflected accurately and sometimes the highest rather the lowest tender was approved, for no apparent reason.
Debtors were over-billed after they had paid off their debts to the province, to the tune of R350 000.
Other flashpoints were:
The way donations from abroad were managed by the department
Mistakes in payments of employment benefits, to the tune of millions (and without any proper records)
No proper registry of fixed assets and
Serious questions about housing benefit payments (R30,9m)
The auditors found that the department was lax about collecting debts and personnel were often guilty of a clash of interests in transactions.
There was concern about people who lived in government houses on hospital property without rental agreements, out-patient debts amounting to R213,6m and over-generous overtime payments.
In spite of this chaotic state of affairs, all senior managers had received a 6% bonus, irrespective of merit.
Gareth Morgan, DP-MP who brought the auditor's report to parliament's attention, asked that the national department of health investigate the situation in Limpopo immediately.
Morgan said the financial and operational management of the department had collapsed.
"It is actually difficult to describe the extent of this collapse, and the situation must receive attention urgently," an apparently dumbstruck Morgan said.
An audit of the Limpopo health department has revealed how, amongst others, over 800 000 condoms had to be thrown away because they lay exposed in the sun.