Some hospitals, clinics still offline. Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko
The Gauteng Health Department is facing a major problem with disconnected telephone lines at some clinics and hospitals.
Several hospitals and clinics in the golden province have activated alternative numbers.
The telecommunications provider, Telkom, disconnected the lines on Monday due to alleged outstanding payments, and 83 clinics and 32 hospitals have been affected, with 16 hospitals still having problems.
According to Gauteng Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba, the delayed payments were a result of discrepancies in Telkom’s invoices.
He said they had several discrepancies with Telkom where they would send invoices with descriptions of facilities that did not belong to the department.
He added that despite the department making a payment of R4 million last week and another R3.4 million on Monday February 26, the issue remains unresolved.
“There is an outstanding amount that is currently being verified so that it can be settled as soon as the invoices are reconciled,” he said.
Modiba said the Gauteng Department of Health is continuing to engage with Telkom to find an amicable way of attending to the disputes without impacting on service delivery, especially given that the department has indicated that it intends to honour its commitments where invoices are not in question.
“Out of over 360 clinics only 83 are affected including 32 hospitals, as part of the long-term solution, the department is migrating its facilities to the Gauteng Provincial Voice Network system operated by the eGovernment Department which will drastically reduce the costs of communication within institutions and externally,” he further added.
According to the department, 130 sites have already been migrated to the new system.
Pretoria News
Lesego Montso
lesego.montso@inl.co.za