The Gauteng department of health has admitted it is struggling to trace foreigners who have left the country still owing the department for medical services.
The department is on a mission to recover R4.6bn in outstanding patient fees. Of this total, R2.4bn is owed by individual patients, both South African citizens and foreigners.
The remaining balance consists of outstanding payments from medical aids and intergovernmental debt involving entities such as the Road Accident Fund, the department of justice, the South African Police Service and correctional services.
Siyabonga Jikwana, chief director of health economics and finance at the Gauteng department of health, says the department has appointed five debt collection agencies to help recover the funds.
“We started with them five months ago, and what we have seen during this period is that they have managed to collect more than R20m. This is an improvement in our revenue collection,” Jikwana said in an interview with SAfm.
Despite that, Jikwana noted significant hurdles remain, particularly regarding patients who cannot be located, such as foreigners who return to their home countries.
“The challenge we have is that we cannot trace them once they leave the country,” he explained, adding that the issue is ultimately one of border management. “This is a problem that goes beyond the department of health. If we had stronger border management controls, we probably wouldn’t be facing this.”
The department has held meetings with embassies of various African nations to resolve the debt issue. While some countries are open to negotiation, others are uncooperative.
“In our engagements, embassies from North African countries — specifically Egypt and Morocco — have been willing to pay for their citizens,” Jikwana noted. “However, we had different experiences with our immediate neighbours, who claim they aren’t even aware their citizens are in the country.”
Jikwana stressed that the health department cannot solve this crisis in isolation, urging other government departments and political leaders to intervene.
“We need to ensure the department of health is assisted in these engagements with various embassies. It requires better strategies that extend beyond the healthcare sector.”
TimesLIVE
Innocentia Nkadimeng
www.timeslive.co.za
