By BAKANG MOKOTO
North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha said ‘heads will roll’ after unpaid invoices worth millions uncovered at the Mmabatho Medical depot on Wednesday. Sambatha said the unpaid invoices belong to more than fifty companies and date back from 2014.
“The medical depot could not pay companies as invoices were missing. As a result, companies stopped supplying medication which has affected stock level at the medical depot. A decision was then made to raid the offices and block workers from accessing the depot. The search uncovered a number of unpaid invoices and the search continues.
“One unpaid invoice worth over R16 million was found at the medical depot drawer. The department can confirm that all the invoices will be verified before payment being processed,” Sambatha said.
He added that the non-payment of suppliers affected his department because they were unable to get enough supply of medicine from the same companies. Sambatha said there were people who were employed by the government to process those invoices, but they failed dismay to perform their duties.
“This technically leads to unavailability of medicine in the medical depot. The raid now provides the management of the department to work out a plan on how to catch up with the payment of suppliers. This will lead to improved availability of medicine which will then be delivered to clinics and hospitals where they are needed the most.
“It breaks my heart to know that there are people in the department who decided to withhold payment of medicine, which should be assisting our parents, family members, and communities at large. It is treasonous and the situation has to be corrected,” he said.
Sambatha further said when the administration team arrived at the department back in 2018, the stock level of essential medicine was at 64% and it was improved to around 85% through intervention. However, he said the level started dropping at the beginning of the year and some companies stopped delivering medicine in March 2020 citing non-payment.
“The stock levels did not change despite money being made available in April 2020. The department then got technical assistance to speed up payment of suppliers. Through that intervention, it has come to the attention of the department that a number of invoices are missing.
“We have also noted that whenever a decision is made to correct the situation at the medical depot, an anonymous letter always surfaces. We will know the identity of the author and address the matter at an appropriate platform,” he said.
Meanwhile, four managers at the medical depot and the provincial office in Mahikeng respectively have since been put on precautionary suspension following alleged mismanagement involving expired medication, depot, and staff. He said a plan to improve delivery timelines and turnaround is in place.
“It involves direct deliveries of medication to hospitals while the medical depot will now deliver directly to clinics,” said Sambatha.
The Guardian 