R1bn spent but 523 Limpopo clinics still use paper records
Limpopo Health Department spent R1bn on digitising medical records, but with only 12% completed, concerns grow over delays and additional costs.
POLOKWANE – The Department of Health has spent over R1b on a five-year contract to digitise medical records, but as of November last year, only about 12.23% of the work has been completed, even though the contract ends next year.
While digitisation has been finished at 64 facilities, the physical files of 523 clinics and hospitals remain untouched.
This shortfall has raised concerns within the DA, which fears that additional funds will be required to reach the project’s milestone, especially given that millions of paper records have already filled storage and cost the department significant medico-legal fees.
Departmental spokesperson Neil Shikwambana explained that digitising patient information is essential for secure storage and easy access, helping to avoid delays and losses that occur with manual record-keeping.
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He added that the digital method will prevent further expenses related to lost files. At the end of the last financial year, an extra R250m was budgeted for the project, with further allocations to be determined after a review process in March.
Opposition health spokesperson Lindy Wilson, however, argued that the money allocated to this project are diverting resources from more pressing needs, such as hiring additional doctors and nurses – a concern that has led to recent protests by healthcare professionals over employment shortages.
“During the review process the department should consider ways to make this process more affordable so more resources are available for the core business of the department and to prevent the province’s ailing health system from collapsing.”
Wilson also mentioned that they had written to the portfolio committee chairperson on health, William Malebana, requesting that MEC Dieketseng Mashego and other senior officials be summoned to provide further details on the expenditure.
In response, Shikwambana dismissed these criticisms as an exaggeration, saying that the key issue is understanding why the project is necessary and how much money it can ultimately save by preventing the loss of valuable records. He stressed that the expenditure is not secret and that there has been no need to call additional officials to discuss the issue.
