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The Cradock Provincial Hospital has had its power cut by the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality because the Department of Health has not paid its R5.7 million municipal account.
According to Jane Cowley MPL, DA EC Shadow MEC for Health, by not paying its account, the department has placed the lives of patients at risk.
Since the hospital is without electricity, she said premature babies cannot be kept warm or ventilated, blood samples and medication cannot be stored at the correct temperatures in refrigerators, no electrical medical equipment can be used, and elderly patients must climb the stairs as the lifts do not work.
“I have written to the MEC for Health, Nomakosazana Meth, to urge her to ensure that the outstanding debt to the municipality is settled as a matter of urgency, as the very lives of our most vulnerable citizens are at stake,” said Cowley.
She said since December last year the department has allowed interest on the outstanding debt on the hospital’s municipal account to accrue to a staggering R502 000.
“The hospital does have an emergency generator, however, due to a drastically diminished operational budget, the generator can only be used to prepare food for the patients and cannot be used to keep lights or plugs working,” said Cowley.
“It is unthinkable that nurses and doctors must go about the business of patient care without access to electricity and tend to patients at night with their cell phone torches.”
According to Yonela Dekeda, provincial spokesperson for the Health Department, the department can confirm that the facility experienced power cuts after the municipality switched off electricity at Cradock Hospital on February 3.
She said payment has since been processed and the power has been restored.
“During the power cuts, the hospital accessed power through backup generators in the facility,” said Dekeda.
She said the delays in payment can be attributed to the department's financial situation mainly caused by the prior years’ upfront payments of Medico Legal settlements.
This, ultimately, resulted in accruals and payables at the end of the 2021/22 financial years of around R4.6 billion.
“The health turnaround strategy seeks to address these structural challenges. The recent judgement by the Bhisho High Court that establishes common law, paves the way for the department to provide reasonable care for children and undertake to pay for those few services or items it may not have,” said Dekeda.
She said the judgement means that the haemorrhage of funds to pay upfront for future medical care can be severely contained.
Dekeda further said this will allow available funds to be utilised to provide care for most citizens who depend on the public sector.
“The department is working with provincial and national treasury to explore ways of dealing with the accruals and payables, now that the massive loss of funds is being closed off even as we provide reasonable care to children with cerebral palsy,” said Dekeda.
“The management of the historical debt separate from the operational budget would be the remedy to ensure that we are able to pay our creditors within 30 days going forward.”
She said in the interim, they are doing their best to manage their creditors within the available cash.
