The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department's woes have worsened with Parliament now squeezing it for R169-million it owes the National Health Laboratory Service.
The province's Health Department was the worst overspender in the KZN government in the last financial year, bursting its budget by R1,3-billion.
Parliament aims to meet all health MECs next month to press them to settle more than R1bn in unpaid laboratory bills, amid fears that these arrears will damage the critical service.
The laboratory service provides essential services to 80 percent of the population in testing for HIV and Aids, malaria, tuberculosis, cancer, occupational health and malnutrition, among other diseases.
News of the laboratory debts came at a parliamentary hearing yesterday. The chairman of the National Assembly's health committee, Bevan Goqwana, told the Daily News MPs were concerned that provinces were allowing health care to "collapse" because of the debts.
His remark was after a warning to the committee from the laboratory service that failure to recoup the debt, some of which is more than a year old, may lead to some "critical" laboratories shutting down.
Goqwana said this required urgent action. "We will go to the health MECs and their top management and tell them that they cannot run health care without the services of health laboratories. We will tell them that 'you are what you are today because of the work that was done by the health laboratory service'.
"If they don't pay, they are collapsing the health care in their provinces. We are concerned because no one can run a health system without these services," Goqwana said.
MPs were intent on a solution before officials from the laboratory service returned in September to complete their report.
Sagie Pillay, the chief executive of the laboratory services, told MPs the failure to pay for services was undermining their efforts to train and recruit new staff such as pathologists, medical scientists, technologists and technicians who were vital to the service.
The Free State owes R114m - which had been unpaid for eight months - while Gauteng owed the largest amount of R184m, but it had paid a portion of the debt.
KwaZulu-Natal owed R169m, Eastern Cape R126m, Mpumalanga R104m, Limpopo R79m, Western Cape R54m, North West R39m and Northern Cape R34m.
Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Health Department, Sizwe Kupelo, said they were aware of their debt and would settle it soon.
"Our payment system has given us problems in the past because it has not been centralised. The department knows that we cannot function without our labs so we have prioritised payments to be made faster than usual. In our budget meetings this week these debts were discussed because we know our clinical services might collapse if the labs are not paid," said Kupelo.
Mandla Sidu, spokesperson for Gauteng Health, said they would need to verify how much the department owed.
"I am new in the department so I don't know this information. But the department will find out how much it owes and respond appropriately," said Sidu.