Renovation costs estimated at R1.7bn for the fire that ravaged Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital has prompted the Gauteng health department to turn to national government for assistance.
The provincial health department said it did this to avoid overpaying on contracts and construction as was the case in recent projects which were flagged by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in relation to the provincial government's response to Covid-19 procurement.
Provincial acting health boss Dr Sibongile Zungu told Sowetan the department of infrastructure development (GDID) had estimated renovations to cost over R1bn.
This is as, 10 months later, health bosses are unable to give concrete answers as to what caused sections of the academic hospital in Parktown to go up in flames.
“Our infrastructure budget is R2.2bn every year and what was estimated previously from our sister department GDID was R1.7bn just to renovate this hospital,” Zungu said.
“That would have meant we're left with less than a billion to build new clinics and do other things in all the other hospitals.”
Gauteng acting DG Thabo Masebe said everyone involved was concerned about the pace the project was moving at.
“Everyone is concerned; clinicians are concerned about their patients and the pace the project was moving and patients have also expressed concern, saying the facility was taking too long.
“One of the causes for the delays in the remedial work needed at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital was there was no agreement between health and infrastructure development as health didn't give the scope of work needed and the two couldn't agree with the budget,” Masebe said.
He said they did not want a repeat of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital on the West Rand which was flagged by the SIU when the contract ballooned to 10 times the original amount.
“We're coming from a situation where the SIU revealed we spent in excess of R500m for AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, which still hasn't been fully utilised,” Masebe said.
Head of health facilities and infrastructure management Ayanda Dakela said his role was to ensure the facility was functional in the shortest time possible.
He said they had identified areas that needed urgent attention and also identified areas where the facility failed to comply with occupational health and safety rules.
“We've identified structural issues and other challenges such as parking for staff. There’s a plan in place where some items can be done immediately,” Dakela said.
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