Chairperson, I give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move:
That the Council -
1) notes that the department of health in the Eastern Cape has fallen behind in previous financial years with occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, and human resource translation of posts, HRTOP, payments to medical professionals;
2) notes that the image of the Eastern Cape department of health is almost synonymous with poor management, poor payment to staff and poor financial management;
3) further notes that a turnaround is needed in this department with adequate financial support and calls on the Minister of Health to intervene;
4) realises that a number of these professionals have taken this department to court and it was ruled that these payments be made within a certain period, but the department has fallen so far behind with these payments that the Minister of Health was approached in this regard;
5) recognises that the Eastern Cape department of health cannot operate without additional funding, based on the small operational budget allocations of only 25% of the budget for goods and services and only 70% allocated to staff and the lack of drugs; and
(6) calls on the Minister of Health to investigate whether the transfer of funds from the national department to the provincial department has occurred.