The Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg remains closed after a fire burnt parts of the hospital over the weekend. Structural engineers are on site trying to determine the cause of the fire.
The fire started in the storeroom that houses medical supplies and spread to other parts of the hospital.
Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital temporarily closed following fire:
Patients have been relocated to other health facilities.
The fire, which began on Saturday, took firefighters at least two days to extinguish. This has forced the Gauteng Government to completely close the hospital for seven days.
Patients at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital to be relocated:
Nursing union Denosa is questioning the timing of the fire, while rival union Nehawu is calling for an investigation.
Denosa alleges that the fire was due to non-compliance with safety regulations. The union’s Gauteng Chairperson Simphiwe Gad is calling for a thorough investigation.
“We question the timing as well as the place where the fire took place. Our reasoning is informed by the fact that at Carletonville Hospital, the fire took place at exactly the same place as Charlotte Maxeke – at a storage. Is this an act of God or is it manmade? And we can only conclude that this manmade and we’re calling on the law enforcement agencies and those who specialise in fire to leave no stone unturned.”
Healthcare workers relocated
The office of the Gauteng Health MEC says several healthcare workers from the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, have been relocated to assist patients who were transferred to other health institutions following a fire incident.
Spokesperson for the office of the Gauteng Health MEC, Kwara Kekana, says public health facilities are under strain.
“The seven-day period that the premier communicated gives us the opportunity and the other departments to do the work with regards to the structural damage; but also just the investigations. That process commenced yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. On any given day, our public health facilities are under strain, but one of the things we have done is some of the staff members are reporting to those other facilities where patients have been transferred to assist from a clinical management point of view and to ensure that we close any service delivery gaps.”
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital closed for seven days:
– Additional reporting by Risha Maduray.
