The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has urged the provincial Health Department to prioritise a speedy and corruption-free reconstruction process of the fire-ravaged Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital. The plea comes following two separate fire incidents that devastated different sections of the facility within just five days.
The first blaze, which occurred on Saturday, destroyed the Accident and Emergency units of the hospital while the second fire which broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, impacted the outpatient section, commonly known as the OPD.
Emergency responders from the City of Ekurhuleni Fire Department attended to the scene, with the provincial department also confirming that investigations were underway to determine the cause of the fire.
“The Department of Health can confirm that fire brigades from the City of Ekurhuleni Fire Department are currently on site attending to what looks like another fire incident at the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital’s main outpatient department. This area is adjacent to the accident and emergency unit, which burnt on Saturday night. More details will be shared later as the matter is still being investigated,” departmental spokesperson, Motaletale Modiba, said on Wednesday.
Speaking during his oversight visit to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, deputy minister, Dr Joe Phaahla promised that his department and the province will ensure that no corruption affects the renovations to the hospital, adding that the process to restore the hospital will be as speedily as possible.
To speed things up and ensure minimal corruption, the deputy minister indicated that the same contractors who previously supplied the hospital with equipment are likely to be awarded the replacement contracts.
“It is a matter of getting the funding, but I assume that we will be using existing contractors who have supplied other hospitals to source equipment. Of course, we understand that procurement is managed by people and the reason. But we hope this we get all these negative reports about corruption is because even with the best systems, because these are managed by people, and people have certain intentions, they can always manipulate the system. We hope this will not be the case,” he said.
To ensure a speedy turnaround time in rebuilding the hospital, the deputy minister said they will work together with the province to avoid unnecessary delays to the resumption of full-scale services at the hospital.
“The forensic investigation experts just need some time to take samples. Once that is done, we will immediately work together. You remember what happened at Tambo Memorial Hospital, when there was the fire. Immediately after the forensic work was done, we worked in stages to restore parts of the hospital. As you look at this area here, some of the areas affected by smoke will be easy to rebuild as they have minor damages. Even the main area where the fire was intense, once they are done, they will hand over the site back to the department and technical people will then get in and building experts will start the work,”‘ he said.
DA shadow MEC of health in the province, Jack Bloom said under no circumstances the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) should be allowed to take part in the renovation processes. Instead, Bloom has advocated for a competent contractor to be appointed by the health department.
“Under no circumstances should the dysfunctional Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) be involved in the rebuilding project. The GDID is notorious for non-performing contracts such as occurred at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, where fire repairs had to be taken over by the National Health Department and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA). A competent project team should be appointed for Tembisa Hospital that works with the private sector to expedite the building work,” he said.
