Two year delay to complete Joburg Hospital psychiatric ward

12 May 2016

The Psychiatric Ward at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital will be completed in September this year, two years after it was supposed to be done by a failed contractor.

This was revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu earlier this week in an oral reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

Mahlangu said that the initial contractor, Chriselda Building Construction, was terminated after it only did Phase 1 of the project which was the doctor’s rooms.

The project was re-advertised in August 2015 and a replacement contractor was appointed to complete the job.

The construction is now 30% complete and it is expected to be finished on 27 September this year at a cost of about R10 million.

I hope that the new contractor meets the deadline as a new psychiatric ward is needed urgently.

Last year a YouTube video was circulated by a relative of one of the patients which showed bare walls, cockroaches and a crude lock on the security gate.

Toilets are in bad condition, male and female patients are not properly separated, and there are only 20 beds. The plan is to expand to 40 beds and ensure a congenial environment for psychiatric patients.

Hospital patients are let down yet again by a poor choice of contractor who cannot finish the job. This happens far too often because of poor appointment procedures and probable corruption.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 12 May 2016