FS Withdraws Early, As Sterility Not Detected in PPE

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) scandal in Free State is far from over.

This after department of Health was forced to intervene when 21 of 32 companies supplied 231 331 surgical gowns that were discovered to have not been sterilized as required.

Free State Provincial Executive Council (PEC), took a decision to centralize the PPE procurement to Treasury despite Health Department being the custodian of Health (Infection, Prevention & Control) protocols, a decision that angered former HOD Dr Motau.

The Free State PPE’s  scandal has been a hotly debated topic since the news broke late last year. The President also gave a go ahead to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate the misuse of Covid-19 funds.

 The former health HOD, Dr David Motau who resigned from his post and took up the position of registrar of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) said he resignation had nothing to do with the PEC’s decision, but he is concerned about the PEC’s decision as a professional doctor.

“I am concerned for the reason that health is the custodian of IPC but risk was raised on a large-scale procurement.” He said during an interview with Step Up Sa News.

He said the Department of Health is part of the Emergency Procurement Task team and therefore the team would ensure that health protocols are adhered to.

“This is the reason why Health Department intervened when they realized that gowns delivered were not as per the specifications.” He added.

He said the MEC Ms Montseng Tsiu was supportive when he told her about his unhappiness about PPE’s centralised to Treasury. A move which cannot be attributed to any piece of existing legislation during the time in which the country is under government through the national disaster management act.

 When asked about the unsterilized gowns, Dr Motau said the department of Health became aware when receiving the goods and this was raised with Provincial Treasury hence the process was stopped! “The gowns were never used and I am not aware of any report of cross-infection.” He said.

Our close source at Health Department in Free State said it is a health hazard to use unsterilized instruments or gowns “We (department of health Free State) use an autoclave in medical and laboratory settings to sterilize equipment, PPE and waste. Autoclave sterilization works by using heat to kill microorganisms such as bacteria and spores. The heat is delivered by pressurised steam therefore if not sterilised it means germs and bacteria are transferred easily to the next person.”  Our source continued, “This is violating Infection, Prevention & Control Policies. At least Dr Motau empathized compliance and adherence otherwise this province would have been number 1 in the country with infection rate. Sadly he was allowed to leave.”

Another source with intimate knowledge said Treasury’s reputation is tainted badly “Treasury is the custodian and vanguard of the public purse and for fraud alleged or not to have happened under it, is a serious credibility knock. Heads must roll.”

A supplier who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said this is self created mess “Officials told us to get business(order) we must buy gowns from(name withheld) and apparently those who got business had to split their profits with the same seller. Only one person was supplying all service providers and this was allowed by Treasury.  This explains why 21 companies would supply gowns that are unsterilized.”

Sello Pietersen, the Spokesperson of the Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela said The Provincial Executive Council believed that there will be better controls if the procurement was done through the Provincial Treasury than if each and every Department would have procured on its own, “given the challenges and uncertainties relating to the emergency procurement, the unavailability of budget within the departments and the technical capacity within the Provincial Treasury.” He said.

When asked about members of Emergency Procurement Task Team, he said, “there was a team of technical experts from the Department of Health who were responsible for advising whether or not the samples provided were in compliance with the National Department of Health and WHO standards. “He added that, “there was also a team consisting of procurement practitioners from the Provincial Treasury evaluating issues of compliance with the SCM prescripts.”

Pietersen contradicts Dr Motau who said the unsterilized gowns were not used “the sterilized gowns are used in the surgical environment and non-sterile gowns are used in non-sterile environment.” He said.

Pietersen did not divulge how much has been spent on these gowns but did say the matter is set for tribunal on the 25 and 26 August 2021 but a quick search shows a surgical without price hiking is +/_ R50 per gown meaning 231 331 unsterilized gowns would have cost over R11 million.

When asked why the HOD was not suspended as the accounting officer Pietersen said “there is no evidence suggesting the HOD failed to perform his fiduciary responsibility.”

In February 2021 the SIU found that there is no evidence Magashule’s affiliates received the lucrative multi-million rand tenders owing to their close relationship with the former Free State Premier. The value of the tenders go up to over R 4 million in one instance. However two of the suppliers, including the chisa nyama were however found to have not been registered with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) as Valued Added Tax (Vat) vendors. All these contracts were approved by the HOD. SIU report recommended criminal charges for fraud(financial misconduct) and disciplinary hearing but to date nothing has been done.

Much as the Spokesperson of Premier Sisi Ntombela is of the view that there is no evidence as the HOD approved these contracts clearly he failed to do due diligence and also failed to charge the CFO for financial misconduct.

Lets take you do Life Esidimeni.

During the Life Esidimeni Arbitration, the then Gauteng MEC for health, Qedani Mahlangu, sought to distance herself from the tragedy by stating that she was not responsible for the implementation of the Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project, a project that was supposedly carried out in pursuance of the National Mental Health Policy Framework and Strategic Plan 2013-2020 (NMHPFS). This defence was rejected by the Arbitrator, as he found that it was in fact her job to ensure the implementation of plans in the delivery of mental health services in Gauteng in line with the NMHPFS. The implementation obligation on the MEC does not mean she must herself take every step to implement; it means she must ensure that all steps are taken.

Same applied with former Gauteng Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku who was replaced after SIU found he has failed to provide oversight.

The PFMA is clear on roles and functions of the accounting officer, as to why the HOD is not charged for failing to charge the Chief Financial Officer, remains a mystery. The provisions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) are succinct on the role and the responsibility of the HOD in a government department.

Section 25(2) of the National Health Act sets out the extensive powers and responsibilities of a provincial department of health HoD.  It is evident from the long list of responsibilities in section 25(2) – including “(I) Plan, manage and develop human resources for the rendering of health services” and “(n) Control the quality of all health services and facilities” – that HoDs bear far-reaching responsibility in the delivery of health care services.

According to the PFMA, as the accounting officer of a department, the HoD implements a department’s policies and delivers the outputs defined in the department’s budget.  They are responsible for the effective, efficient, economical and transparent use of the department’s resources – which would include the hiring and dismissal of staff – to produce policy output. The PFMA also places the awarding of contracts strictly in the purview of the accounting officers who are supposed to ensure that the department has, and maintains, an appropriate procurement and provisioning system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective.

Whether in a lower tier of government where the Municipal Financial Management Act is most prominent or at Provincial and National department level, any alleged financial impropriety robs South Africans the right to effective, efficient and value for money service delivery.

Critically, such incidents further derail efforts of government to combat fraud and corruption which contribute the lion’s share to public money which is often classified as irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Christopher Tsatsawane, Head of Corporate Services at HPCSA refused to be drown in this “the issue of procurement of PPEs falls outside the jurisdiction of the Health Professions Council of South Africa and therefore the consul dies not have a view on thus matter.”

Free State Treasury, Health and Interim Provincial Committee did not respond to Step Up Sa News questions.

This is a developing story.