Question NW1389 to the Minister of Health
05 May 2022 - NW1389
Thembekwayo, Dr S to ask the Minister of Health
In light of the negative impact of COVID-19 and budgetary constraints, what steps have been taken by his department to assist the Office of the Health Standard Compliance to fill some of its critical vacancies?
Reply:
The department is responsible to make transfer payments to the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) as allocated from the national fiscus for the entity to conduct its operations in accordance with its legislative mandate. Requests for additional funds for the entity’s operations including compensation of employees would be made to the National Treasury by the entity with support from the department following due process (budget process).
The department supported the OHSC’s application to the National Treasury to retain accumulated surplus for the 2020/21 financial year considering the negative impact of COVID-19 and budgetary constraints to fund the following objectives as identified by the entity:
- Supplementing human resource capacity in the Complaints Management Unit, Certification and Enforcement Unit, and Legal Service Unit;
- Additional budget for inspections and re-inspections, and certification and enforcement;
- Replacement of old computer equipment/tools of trade (recapitalization); and
- Development and/or enhancement of core systems – inspection, early warning system, certification, and enforcement.
In addition, the Department during the 2020 MTEF process ensured that the OHSC’s budget was not reduced. National Treasury had proposed a reduction of 5.7% in 2021/22 and 8.5% in 2022/23 as a result of the tight fiscal envelope.
END.