The department was allocated a further R350 million by the MEC, which is meant to address the budget pressure in relation to the fight against Covid-19. OFM News previously reported that the Health Department is facing financial difficulties as 31 medical negligent claims have already been registered in the current financial year.

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The department was previously, during the budget vote speech in 2021, allocated R14,1 billion to cover their high salary bill and to deliver services.

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OFM News also reported that the Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Ronald Lamola, said on the Parliament Monitoring Group’s website, that the Special Investigate Unit (SIU) has approached the Special Tribunal to recover the over R30 million lost to the ground and air ambulance contract from former North West Health Department head, Thabo Lekalakala.

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“The Department of Health is allocated an additional R350 million to address budget pressure as a result of Covid-19 related items inclusive of the vaccination rollout. The said amount is allocated specifically for those items and should not be shifted to any other purposes,” she adds. She says the Department of Health will continue to play a critical role in fighting the Covid-19. The Health budget is increased from R14,119 billion to R15,271 billion, which translates to an increase of R1,152 billion. Rosho adds that the fiscal consolidation is critical to reduce the public debt burden, restore investor confidence, and avoid overexposure to global and domestic risks.  

OFM News