The Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) has renewed calls for KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala to fast-track the official opening of the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Hospital in Ntuzuma north of Durban.
The state-of-the-art hospital was meant to be officially opened before the end of June last year but was postponed.
The PSA’s provincial manager Mlungisi Ndlovu says since Zikalala will deliver the State-of-the-Province-Address on Thursday, he needs to attend to workers’ concerns.
Ndlovu says the PSA wants Zikalala to address a number of issues important to them.
“The opening of the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Hospital by April 2022. We appeal to the Premier to remove the moratorium on the filling of vacancies and for the advertising of the more than 100 000 vacancies that can absorb many unemployed graduates and people of KZN,” says Ndlovu.
Unions demand that the government urgently open Dr. Pixley ka Isaka Seme Hospital:
The hospital was aimed at facilitating the growing population of KwaZulu-Natal and plans to build it started as far back as 2003.
The 500-bed hospital has four levels which are divided into 10 blocks, 4 blocks on the west of the building and 6 blocks on the East side of the building. The project for the Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Hospital has cost taxpayers R2.8 billion.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the KZN Department of Health revealed that they would use 450 beds for COVID-19 cases.
According to KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, the 2021 opening of the hospital was postponed due to the overwhelming (over 200 000) number of applications received for advertised job posts.
The Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Hospital is expected to benefit communities in Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu and surrounding areas, as well as the entire province of KwaZulu-Natal.
