Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi has sought to reassure the public that the government remains committed to ensuring that speedy remedial work is carried out at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic hospital in Johannesburg.
The hospital was closed in April last year after fire gutted parts of the building.
Mokgethi says repair work at the casualty section suffered a setback recently due to theft of copper pipes, electrical wiring and circuit breakers.
The MEC’s spokesperson Kwara Kekana says, “The partial handover of the Accident and Emergency Unit commenced on the 10th March. This means that from here onwards the following will take place to get the section ready for hand over.”
“Deep cleaning of the areas that are handed back to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital CMJAH. The City of Joburg will be checking for the compliance of the areas and issuing operational certificate,” added Kekana.
“CoJ application and submission was made in the first week of March. Installation of health technology equipment. Retraining of staff on evacuation procedures. Recalling CMJAH casualty staff that were placed at CHBAH and HJH including surrounding facilities to reopen the casualty at Charlotte,” Kekana said.
In the video below, the safety of government buildings under the spotlight:
Safety of government buildings
Firefighters, who responded to the blaze at the hospital, say they could have acted more swiftly had the fire hydrant system been fully operational.
The fire put the spotlight on poor health and safety controls and non-compliance at state buildings.
In 2018, three firefighters were killed in an inferno at the Bank of Lisbon in Pretoria.
The safety compliance rate stood at a dismal 21%.
