GEORGE NEWS - With only ten assessment doctors contracted by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) for the entire Western Cape Province, it might take considerable time for the 1 385 clients who have been booked for an assessment in George, to be serviced.
In a press release this morning, DA Constituency Head of George Mimmy Gondwe expresses her shock on the matter, revealing details in written responses by the Minister of Social Development to parliamentary questions posed by the DA on 19 June.
An extract from Gondwe’s press statement:
Amongst other things, the DA probed the Minister with regard to the number of Sassa-contracted assessment doctors to the areas of George, Riversdale, Knysna, Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay, and the number of new and existing Sassa beneficiaries that are currently on the waiting list to see a Sassa-contracted assessment doctor in these specified areas.
In the said written responses, the Minister further revealed that George has 1 385 clients who have been booked for an assessment but are yet to be assessed.
According to the Minister, Sassa supposedly endeavours to ensure that all clients are assessed within 30 days, and where this is not done and a backlog of assessments follows, the relevant programme manager is expected to formulate and implement innovative measures to clear the backlog.
These measures may include allocating an additional assessment week or utilising the assistance of a doctor from another province.
The DA in the Western Cape, therefore, calls on the Department of Social Development and its ailing entity Sassa to get their act together and forthwith place the needs of our people at the core by implementing measures to not only address the backlog of assessments in George and its surrounding areas but to further ensure that moving forward there are no further backlogs with assessments in the Western Cape.
We are in the midst of what is probably one of the worst disasters to ever affect the world and, now more than ever, our people require access to relief in the form of social and disability grants.
The Minister also indicates in her written responses that on 5 May 2020 Sassa in the Western Cape was approved by the National Treasury to deviate from the normal tender process and appoint assessment doctors in George and the Boland region through a closed bidding process. And in this regard, Sassa intends approaching all the doctors listed on the database of the Health Professionals Council of South Africa to ensure the process is fair.
The DA further calls on the Department and Sassa to urgently expedite the process of appointing additional assessment doctors in George and the Boland region.
Yesterday, the DA posed further questions to the Minister of Social Development on when this critical appointment process is likely to be finalised, and we will monitor the developments closely.
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