Gauteng health dept to pay suppliers

johannesburg - over r200m will be paid to hospital suppliers this month in a bid to clear debts incurred over the years, the gauteng health department said on monday.

the r202m allocation for this month follows the r600m paid out in december, said spokesperson simon zwane.

the payments were managed through cash flow allocations the department received from the provincial treasury.

national treasury was helping the department sort out its budget.

"as the department, we are hopeful that through these initiatives, we will be able to bring relief to suppliers," zwane said.

"we would like to reiterate that the department is fully aware and committed to meeting all its past and future obligations to suppliers."

the health department owes providers for services delivered as far back as 2007. some were forced to shut down as a result.

in his report last week, auditor general terence nombembe found that the gauteng department of health and social development had incurred r2.2bn in irregular expenditure for 2010/2011.

earlier this month, the sa medical device industry association (samed) said medical suppliers were owed r403.8m by the department.

zwane said a meeting was held with samed on tuesday morning. a follow-up meeting was scheduled for thursday.

"up to november 2011, an amount of r108m has been paid to members of samed," he said.

in an effort to reduce accruals, a team has been set up, comprising officials from the provincial health and finance department.

zwane said the issue of reducing accruals would be dealt with in phases.

the intention was to clear most accruals by the end of june 2012.