The Minister of Finance delivered his budget speech for 2022 to the nation on 23 February and declared that, amongst others, the budget is focussed on providing support to the health and education sectors, to continue the battle against crime and corruption and to improve capital investment. Some of the highlights regarding health and procurement are discussed below.
The health sector will see an additional R15.6 billion allocation for provincial health departments to continue their response to COVID-19 and to ensure all essential goods and services can be provided; and a further R3.3 billion to be able to take on medical interns and community service doctors.
Furthermore, the health promotion levy will be increased to 2.31c per gram of sugar, for the first time in three years and medical tax credits will increase from R332 to R347 per month for the first two members, and from R224 to R234 per month for additional members.
In terms of procurement in general, which includes state procurement for the health sector, the Minister repeated his intention to table the Public Procurement Bill before Parliament in 2022/23, even though it is currently under revision due to the recent Constitutional Court judgement on the preferential procurement regulations, and the first Zondo Commission report highlighting abuses in state procurement. In the interim, to try to reduce the opportunity for procurement corruption, the Minister has asked that accounting officers ensure the integrity of their procurement processes, i.e. does the procurement provide value for money and is the final decision free from influence and/or interference by any politically connected persons and/or bidders.
Detail pertaining to specific budget expenditure per department/project, including National Health Insurance and Council for Medical Schemes are available in the Health Vote.
Source:
http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2022/
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