The South African Medical Device Industry Association (SAMED) yesterday (WED) asked that Chabane urgently intervene in Gauteng and force the health department to pay suppliers within the legally prescribed period of 30 days.

‘€œWe keep on reading about the government saying payment has to be made within the required period. But it is not happening, ‘€œ said Tanya Vogt, Chief Operating Officer of SAMED.

Vogt revealed that at the end of October the total outstanding debt to their members was R311 million ‘€“ of which R64 million is owed for the period prior to March 2011.

Chabane announced last week that his department had a system that can now track which departments are paying in time and which not.

‘€œSurely, Gauteng Health must show up as a non-payer. The question is: what does that mean? Will the Minister intervene?’€ asked Vogt.

 She added that in Parliament this week a strong case was made for government departments to stick to the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act.

‘€œIs Gauteng Health listening?’€ asked Vogt.

She accused the Gauteng health department of being ‘€œlong on promises and short on delivery’€ ‘€“ even when SAMED agrees with it on a problem-solving path.

‘€œIn July SAMED had agreed with the acting chief financial officer of the department on a methodology to handle the payment problem. A survey was undertaken and it would have been the basis for a problem-solving meeting.

 ‘€œBut the meeting never took place. Then a suppliers’€™ indaba was going to be held. That too has not happened. Since then, a number of senior staff members have left Gauteng Health ‘€“ including its head, Dr Nomonde Xundu.

 ‘€œWe just don’€™t know where to turn to and are now appealing to higher authority,’€ said Vogt.