Johannesburg - About R83m stands to be lost in unspent money allocated for hospital infrastructure in Gauteng, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.
This figure was reported in the Second Quarterly Report of the Gauteng Provincial Government, tabled recently in the Gauteng legislature, MPL Mike Moriarty said in a statement.
It covers the period from July to September.
Moriarty said R143m was allocated by National Treasury for badly-needed repairs in Gauteng public hospitals, but only R26m, 18% of the cash, was spent after six months.
Spending in the first quarter was only 9%, at which stage assurances were given that it was a project management issue and capacity was being added, Moriarty said.
"At this rate, the department will have underspent by two-thirds of its entire budget by the end of the financial year," he said.
"Clearly, whatever the provincial government has done to bring about improvement is not working."
The solution is to fire incompetent officials, Moriarty said.
"Until then we do not believe there will be any improvement and healthcare, especially for the poor, (who) will continue to suffer."
The department could not be reached immediately for comment.