NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 2282
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 13 NOVEMBER 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 28)
Mrs P C Duncan (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:
Whether her department has made use of temporary employment services and/or
labour brokers in any of the specified provinces; if so, (a) why, (b) how
many positions have been filled by temporary employment services in the (i)
2006-07, (ii) 2007-08 and (iii) 2008-09 financial years in each province,
(c) what percentage of the total staff complement did temporary employment
services contribute in each of these years and (d) how much money has been
spent on temporary employment services in each year?
NW2995E
REPLY:
The following information has been obtained from our Provincial Departments
of Health
EASTERN CAPE
The Department does not utilize labour brokers routinely as a policy. There
have been two exceptions, however, in the following cases:
(a) TB hospitals have historically been staffed through agencies in an
attempt to provide a service in a service delivery area challenged to
recruit staff. The numbers of staff for each year and the amount spent
on each is listed below:
|Â |Â |Yr 09 |Â |Yr 08 |Â |Yr 07 |
|Total No of |43,11|Â |40,24|Â |42,04|Â |
|Staff |7 | |6 | |5 | |
|% of total |0.019|Â |0.032|Â |0.92 |Â |
|staff | | | | | | |
b) In the event of a strike where it is unavoidable, nursing service
agencies are utilized as a last resort. These are paid through goods
and services allocations.
FREE STATE
a) (i) 2006/2007:
Request to make use of a personnel agency was made in December
2007 to cope with the workload in the Medical Depot. As the
Depot was not able to fill the posts due to financial
constraints, a solution was made to have temporary posts to be
able to cope with the increase in demand for medication from the
institutions. The other reason was the posts could not be filled
as there was a work-study being performed on the SCM posts
within the Supply Chain Chief Directorate, the vacant posts
could not be filled.
(ii) 2007/2008:
The new micro structure could not be implemented at the medical
depot as the depot could not meet the requirements of the
Medical Control Council regarding personnel handling medicines.
The structure had to be reviewed for pharmacist assistants to
receive the qualification and be registered with the Pharmacy
Council. The process had to go through work-study investigation
to assess and identify the number of posts required.
(iii) 2008/2009:
The new Medical Depot structure was approved in December 2008.
Due to the financial challenges experienced by the Free State
Department of Health which also affected the filling in of the
vacant posts, the Medical Depot could not fill permanent posts
and an approval was given to fill temporary posts instead of
permanent posts, to relieve the work-load.
2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009
|(b) |12 temporary |12 temporary |12 temporary |
| |workers |workers |workers |
|(c) |12% |12% | 12% |
| | | | |
|(d) |R222, 943.66 |R297, 327.73 |R356, 852.23 |
LIMPOPO
Yes, the Department did make use of temporary employment services during
the financial years 2006/07; 2007/08; and 2008/09;
(a) The temporary employees were used for malaria spray which takes place
during August to January every year. There is no malaria spray for the
part of 6 months of the year.
(b) The total number of employees appointed, percentage of the total
staff compliments and money spent on temporary employment services are
as indicated hereunder.
|Financial |Total temporary |Amount spent |% of total staff |
|Years |employees | |compliment |
|2006/07 |181 |R 4 181 100 |0.6% |
|2007/08 |206 |R 5 115 495 |0.7% |
|2008/09 |221 |R 6 064 129.5 |0.7% |
NORTHERN CAPE
Yes, the Northern Cape Department of Health has made use of temporary
employment services.
a) In some instances it becomes a challenge to find the needed skill when
following the normal recruitment processes;
b) (i) 63
(ii) 63
(iii) 62
c) (i) 2006-2007 = approximately 2%
(ii) 2007-2008 = approximately 2%
(iii) 2008-2009 = approximately 1.9%
d) (i) 2006-2007 = R1 484 835.00
(ii) 2007-2008 = R 6 471 922.00
(iii) 2008 â2009= R7 436 427.00
WESTERN CAPE
|Sum of Total |Period |Â |Â |
|Item Description |2006/2007 |2007/2008 |2008/2009 |
|Senior Admin Service and Support |Â |Â | 32,771,129|
|Staff | | | |
|Nursing Staff |Â | | 140,069,048 |
|Professional Staff |Â | | 68,362,359|
|Cons&Spec Ser:Agen Adm&Sup Staff | | |Â |
| |35,277,769 |29,297,519 | |
|Cons&Spec Ser:Agen Nursing Staff | 150,627,958| 140,303,875|Â |
|Cons&Spec Ser:Agen Prof Staff | | |Â |
| |53,757,506 |47,760,759 | |
|Grand Total | 239,663,233| 217,362,153| 241,202,537 |
END.