“The payment will go towards debts incurred in the last financial year as well as to suppliers who provided services in the last month, as the department now tries to honour payments within 30 days,” the department said.

Payments processed in the past few months have assisted in improving services in provincial health facilities, including the availability of medicines, which has registered significant progress.

The department said it was currently trying to improve medicine stock holding from six weeks to six months for fast moving drugs, while slow moving and non-essential drugs would continue to be held at six weeks stock levels.