Unpaid bills lead to health crisis
The news is dire for patients who rely on the public health system.
THE KwaZulu-Natal Health Department’s ongoing failure to resolve a billing issue with the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) is a massive betrayal, both in terms of leadership and its responsibility to state-reliant patients in the province.
This is according to Makhosazana Mdlalose, the Democratic Alliance (DA) KZN spokesman on health, who issued a press statement regarding the NHLS crisis this week.
Last week, the NHLS advised that it would no longer provide a service to the health department because the bills have not been paid. This included the suspension of specimen collection services, beginning with primary health care clinics and progressing to community health centres and specialised hospitals. This step would be followed by the suspension of diagnostic pathology services at laboratories supporting district hospitals and, finally, the regional hospitals, provincial tertiary hospitals and national central hospitals.
“The news is dire for patients who rely on the public health system. Delayed screening means delayed treatment, which in cases such as HIV and cervical cancer can prove fatal,” said Ms Mdlalose, adding that the DA was appalled that the billing issue had not yet been settled.
In December 2011, the KZN Health Department committed itself to paying the outstanding R1.06-billion account “in a matter of days”. In early 2012, KZN Health MEC, Sibongiseni Dhlomo advised members of the province’s health portfolio committee that the department had entered arbitration over certain aspects of the bill but that the situation was under control and the department was making regular payments to the NHLS.
“That was more than two years ago. The question is – what happened? Why has this matter not been resolved yet?” said Ms Mdlalose.
Recent media reports indicate that the outstanding sum could now be as high as R3-billion.
“This entire debacle points to an alarming lack of urgency on the part of the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department, with officials only acting when faced with NHLS suspending its services,” Ms Mdlalose said.
The DA expected some form of consensus to be reached between the department and NHLS officials. Payment should be made immediately to avert a health care crisis that would affect thousands of patients, she concluded.
