Chairperson, Question 44 is also from the hon member Ms N D Ntwanambi, and is about the issue of civil claims relating to alleged negligence by doctors and/or nurses in the two financial years.
The problem is that when people litigate against government, the Minister is always cited, but as a second respondent, because the action for which there is litigation against us takes place in hospitals in the provinces, where the provinces are in charge. So, whatever information we get - the budgeting, payments and all else - is in regard to the provincial level and not the national level. For that reason, I can only answer provincially, in other words, province by province. Unfortunately, at the time of answering this question, for the financial years 2008-10 we have information up to April only and not for the whole of the financial years. For 2008-09, the amount budgeted for this in the Eastern Cape was R5,8 million. I'm sorry, there no money was budgeted for this litigation, but they paid a total of R5,6 million. For that reason, the following year they then budgeted R10 million for that. In the Free State, for 2008-09 the amount budgeted was R348 000, and the litigation they paid for that year was R237 000. The following year they budgeted R1,1 million, and the amount paid for litigation was R822 000. In Gauteng, in 2008-09 the amount of money budgeted for litigation was R7,8 million. Sorry, this was the amount of money spent on litigation, not budgeted. They did not have a specific budget for that but there was litigation against them, and they paid R7,8 million. For the following year, 2009-10, by April they had already spent R255 000. In Mpumalanga in 2008-09 the amount budgeted was R2,4 million, and the amount of money paid for litigation was R666 000. The following year, in 2009-10, the amount budgeted was R8,1 million and a sum of R3,5 million was paid for litigation. In the Northern Cape they did not have any budget, but they paid R251 000 for 2008-09, and R3 million for 2009-10.
The highest amount of money budgeted and paid for litigation for the same period was in the Western Cape, where in 2008-09 an amount of R14 million was budgeted for litigation, and the amount spent was R4 million. That might be because of the number of institutions and specialists there; I don't know. But, in 2009-10 the amount budgeted was R14 million, and the amount of money paid for litigation was R6 million. Thank you. Staff shortages and low medicinal stock at a Port Elizabeth pharmaceutical depot, action taken to verify the situation and details regarding plans to ensure situation is addressed
45. Ms N D Ntwanambi (ANC) asked the Minister of Health:
(1) Whether his department has been informed of the staff shortages and low medicinal stock at the Port Elizabeth pharmaceutical depot (details furnished) which contributed to the lack of medication in hospitals, like the Humansdorp Hospital; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether his department has taken any action to verify the situation upon receiving the said information; if not, why not; if so, (a) what was the situation of the pharmaceutical depot and (b) what are the further relevant details;
(3) whether he or his department has held any discussions with the provincial department of health to ensure that the situation is addressed; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? CO229E