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The Portfolio Committee on Health expressed its unhappiness about the briefing it received yesterday from the Auditor-General (AG) on the AG’s findings on the first and second reports on the financial management by government departments on Covid-19-related procurement of goods and services.
 
The committee heard from the AG’s presentation that the personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement processes were marred by many irregularities and non-compliance to the National Treasury regulations.
 
The AG told the committee that in some healthcare facilities, PPE stock was stored in a temporary bulk storage facility, which was in a poor condition. At certain facilities, PPE was damaged and compromised by exposure to water leakages and severe weather conditions, including sun and rain.  
 
The committee said it was difficult to understand the gross waste of the PPE on the one hand, and the lack of the same PPE resources in healthcare centres, especially in rural communities in South Africa where it is desperately needed, on the other. The committee called this shameful and atrocious.
 
The committee Chairperson, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, said the AG will be invited again to present the same report in a meeting, where the Minister of Health and the provincial MECs for health will be present.
 

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health