Africa-Press – South-Africa. The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) is investigating a string of suspicious payments and spending linked to procurement irregularities worth R850 million from Tembisa Hospital.
In a statement released on Friday, Sahpra CEO Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said they were working closely with the police and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in the probe.
“Sahpra holds public safety as an important cornerstone, as part of its mandate. Any transgression in terms of unethical conduct and compromising public safety will be taken seriously and will be fully investigated.
“Sahpra works alongside law enforcement agencies to ensure that any perpetrators face the consequences of their actions,” Semete-Makokotlela said.
The regulatory body urged industry and healthcare professionals to comply with the Medicines and Related Substances Act when procuring health products.
The investigation into the hospital comes in the aftermath of whistleblower Babita Deokaran’s assassination. In a series of exposés, News24 uncovered an alleged extraction network, which had been bleeding Tembisa Hospital dry.
A News24 investigation based on a cache of Gauteng health department emails and documents, obtained via hundreds of company searches, exposed a web of entities geared toward extracting cash from the hospital’s coffers.
Deokaran raised the alarm about R850 million in shady spending at the department, and tried to stop R100 million in dodgy payments at Tembisa Hospital, just days before her death.
Weeks before Deokaran was murdered, she filed a report in which she identified 217 companies that had won contracts for the supply of medical supplies – including ventilators and surgical equipment – and recommended an urgent investigation.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
