Systems & controls in place to prevent another Tembisa Hospital scandal - Gauteng health dept

The Gauteng health department says there are systems and controls in place to prevent another Tembisa Hospital scandal.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) recently published its report into the hospital, where it found a highly-connected syndicate of businessmen were irregularly awarded tenders amounting to about two billion rand.

During a media briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday, the health department noted this was a learning curve.

Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko was in a different department when the looting of the Tembisa Hospital took place.

She said that part of the controls she’d put in place since assuming the position was regular meetings with hospital CEOs, where they make presentations on their financial expenditures.

Nkomo-Ralehoko said that at the moment, there was no evidence of any crime syndicate, similar to the one at the Tembisa Hospital, operating in Gauteng' public healthcare facilities.

"Definitely, when there are issues, you will see the red flags. That’s why our controls that we have are able to show us the red flags. At the moment, we don’t have any red flags in any institution."

The health MEC has clarified that the suspension of the health HOD, Lesiba Malotana, was not related to the SIU's investigation into the Tembisa Hospital but was on a separate matter.