Media statement
Tuesday, 01 February 2022
BLOEMFONTEIN – The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in the Free State welcomes the ruling by the Special Tribunal in the shady PPE procurement in the Free State, which saw only three out of 32 contracted suppliers supplying the Department of Health with PPE that is below the required standard.
We call on all the agencies responsible for the administration of justice to ensure that all the perpetrators face the full might of the law for their part in this scandal.
DENOSA raised this concern of poor supply of PPE by the Department of Health in the province at one of the Provincial Coronavirus Command Council meetings because this was happening at the height of COVID-19, which saw many healthcare workers losing their lives.
The provinces had recorded some of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases during the different waves and, because the sterile surgical gowns were to be used in the fight against COVID-19 in the province’s facilities, it is not wild-thinking to attribute the high infection rate amongst healthcare workers that the province experienced to the PPE of inferior quality as the SIU unearthed in its investigation.
DENOSA particularly welcomes the ruling that all the involved firms should be compensated for the fair value of what they delivered, not for the quality that they never delivered but would have wanted to be compensated according to, and that officials who are involved should pay for any wasted costs. We believe the ruling of this nature would bring about an end to the rife corruption, which the COVID-19 procurement process was marred by.
DENOSA is disappointed that there was no quality assurance on the part of the Department of Health at the greatest hour of need as this consignment of poor quality PPE found its way to healthcare facilities, thus exposing healthcare workers to a high level of risk of infection to the highly infectious COVID-19.
The least said about allowing service providers with no SANS certificate to bid in the first place, the better. Healthcare workers are simply at the hands of incompetence!
End
Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Free State
For more information, contact:
Thibogang Thole, DENOSA Free State Provincial Chairperson.
Mobile: 079 501 5508
Tel: 051 430 4142