After unpaid service providers allegedly forced the hospital to borrow emergency dialysis consumables from another state facility in order to keep patients alive, the Gauteng Department of Health has been accused of allowing Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital to enter a potentially life-threatening supply crisis. The department disputes this accusation.
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the crisis exposes deepening financial and procurement failures within the Gauteng Department of Health, accusing the department of downplaying a situation that left the hospital scrambling for essential medical supplies. The party claims patients requiring life-saving dialysis were placed at risk because suppliers had not been paid.
DA Gauteng spokesperson for Health Madeleine Hicklin said the crisis extended beyond sodium bicarbonate solution, alleging that Fresenius Medical Care had not supplied essential dialysis filters for intensive care patients for the past six weeks because of unpaid accounts.
"Without these critical medical supplies, patients face life-threatening complications while doctors and nurses are forced to provide care without resources."
Hicklin said senior officials, including Health MEC Faith Mazibuko and Head of Department Dr Darian Barclay, had allegedly been informed of the shortages, yet no purchase orders had been issued and the outstanding account with the supplier remained unpaid.
